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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24191785">What Binds Us</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoBeIt123/pseuds/SoBeIt123'>SoBeIt123</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Amor Fati [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Child Abuse, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Esther's A+ Parenting, F/M, Healthy Relationships, Implied/Referenced Sex, It gets to canon eventually, Mikael's A+ Parenting, NOT love at first sight, Pre-Canon, Soul Bond</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:47:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>46,813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24191785</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoBeIt123/pseuds/SoBeIt123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Azalea had not expected to appear in the woods a millennia before she was born in the form of a spirit. With only missing memories of her history and cryptic hints of her future, she meets and befriends Henrik Mikaelson, and with him the rest of the family. Unknown to Azalea, her actions in the distant past would help shape and change her future.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Elijah Mikaelson &amp; Finn Mikaelson &amp; Klaus Mikaelson &amp; Kol Mikaelson &amp; Rebekah Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Minor Finn Mikaelson/Sage, Minor Klaus Mikaelson/Tatia, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Amor Fati [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185122</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>154</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Beginnings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Not beta'd</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With a ghostly flash of pale light, Azalea tumbled to the ground.</p><p> </p><p>Dazed, she peered into the clear blue sky above. She was in a clearing in the middle of some woods. It was an idyllic place, with lush green grass and vivid wildflowers, bordered by towering trees.</p><p> </p><p>Curiously, nothing hurt. And considering her graceful entrance, she should be hurting. She sat up, feeling weirdly weightless, and looking down at herself she realized why.</p><p> </p><p>Her body was ethereal, a pale shimmering blue.</p><p> </p><p>Was she dead? No. That as impossible, she couldn’t be…right? Spirits couldn’t be untethered like this; she felt no connection to… to what?</p><p> </p><p>How did she know this?</p><p> </p><p>Desperately searching her memory for what could have happened to her, Azalea came up blank.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea scrambled onto her feet, panic beginning to set in.</p><p> </p><p>Ok. She knew that it was 2009, she knew her name, she knew she was from the U.S. She knew basic facts of life, things about herself as a person but when she tried to reach for more, everything as blank. It was like she had pieces of a puzzle, but no way to put them together.</p><p> </p><p>What had happened to her, why was she here, and where was she?</p><p> </p><p>A rustle of leaves cut into her panic. Azalea’s voice rang through the clearing.</p><p> </p><p>“Who's there?”</p><p> </p><p>She scanned her surroundings, spotting a figure hiding in the foliage. She strode over to it, phasing through it to find the terrified form of a young boy who could not have been older than ten.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea kneeled to be level with the boy.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, its ok. I’m sorry I frightened you.”</p><p> </p><p>The boy tentatively uncurled from his crouch; Azalea held out a spectral hand to him.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m Azalea. What’s your name?”</p><p> </p><p>“…Rik... Father and Elijah call me Henrik.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s very nice to meet you Henrik.” The boy made a funny face at the use of his full name.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, most people called me Lea, not Azalea.” – at least she thought people did -  ‘” You can call me that too, if you’d like.”</p><p> </p><p>Henrik nodded silently, still slightly scared.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, Rik. What are you doing out here by yourself?”</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus was going hunting, and I followed him. I wanted to see him use his bow, Father never lets me see him practice.”</p><p> </p><p>She was assuming this ‘Klaus’ was family, maybe a brother?</p><p> </p><p>“Did Klaus know you followed him?”</p><p> </p><p>“…No”</p><p> </p><p>“Do you know the way back home?”</p><p> </p><p>Henrik nodded hesitantly.</p><p> </p><p>Well, ghost or not, she couldn’t leave a child to fend for themselves in the middle of the woods.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, how about I walk with you back to your home, alright?”</p><p> </p><p>The boy stood, brushing leaves off his cloths.</p><p> </p><p>His cloths were rather odd, now that Azalea could see them clearly. It was a blue handmade tunic, along with a pair of leggings. All in all, his cloths were something that one would normally find in a museum. And he mentioned his (presumed) brother using a bow to hunt? Azalea may not remember much, but she knew bow hunting was not exactly common.</p><p> </p><p>Queries on her mind, she followed after</p><p> </p><p>They eventually made it closer to his home, Henrik perking up as time went on, chattering about his family – he had four brothers and one sister – and his parents – his mother was a witch (?!), his father was a buzzkill – and a myriad of other things.</p><p> </p><p>From his words, Azalea could only construct two theories: either Henrik was insane, or she was in the very distant past.</p><p> </p><p>As they neared the village, it quickly became clear that she was in the past.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea took in a useless, but fortifying breath; she could panic later. Just focus on the now.</p><p> </p><p>They were about to exit the tree line when Azalea felt a peculiar tugging in her chest. She stopped, Henrik turning back to her when he realized she was not following him anymore.</p><p> </p><p>“Lea, c’mon!”</p><p> </p><p>Her vision began to blur, her hands started to fade.</p><p> </p><p>“I think I’m leaving now.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>She looked at the now dejected boy.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, I’ll come back if I can. Don’t worry.”</p><p> </p><p>The world went dark.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>She felt heavy. Lethargic, as if she had recently awoken from a long rest. She could feel the beep of a monitor of some sorts, could smell the sterile scent of a… hospital?</p><p> </p><p>Azalea opened her eyes. She was greeted by a blank white ceiling.</p><p> </p><p>“Good you’re awake. Right on schedule. My name is Carmen, and I am you’re primary caretaker.”</p><p> </p><p> On schedule?</p><p> </p><p>“Where am I?”</p><p> </p><p>“You are in the Coterie Anchorage. We’re one of the only magical medical facilities in the world.”</p><p> </p><p>A magical hospital. She turned to look at the woman speaking to her. Her presumed nurse was a tall Hispanic woman with mahogany hair and dark eyes. She was bustling around the room, checking on various instruments and writing things down.</p><p> </p><p>Funnily enough the first thought that came to Azalea’s mind was that she had no idea how she was going to pay for this. The second was who brought her here. She decided to ask.</p><p> </p><p>“How did I get here?”</p><p> </p><p>“I am afraid that I cannot tell you who brought you here.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why not?”</p><p> </p><p>“Your benefactor insisted that they remain anonymous. They are covering the costs for your stay here.”</p><p> </p><p>An anonymous benefactor? What was going on?</p><p> </p><p>“Your reaction to your trance - “</p><p> </p><p>“My what?”</p><p> </p><p>Carmen gave her a strange look.</p><p> </p><p>“Your trance. It’s a natural part of a Memini. You are here because your Projections are involuntary and far too long lasting.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea did not know how or why she was here or what these people’s intentions were, but figured that discretion was the better part of valor. So, she lied like a cheap rug.</p><p> </p><p>She pasted a rueful smirk onto her face, and forced a light laugh.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course. Sorry, I’m still a little disoriented.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that is to be expected. You will probably be in and out for a while, so don’t be too concerned.”</p><p> </p><p>‘Don’t be too concerned?’ Yeah. She would totally do that.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea swayed a bit, her vision darkening.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah. That must be another one. Don’t fight it, this has to work itself out naturally.”</p><p> </p><p>She faded back into oblivion.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>She woke to find herself back in the clearing.</p><p> </p><p>“Lea! You’re back! Come with me, I want you to meet someone!”</p><p> </p><p>Without waiting for a response Henrik turned and darted off into the woods. Azalea followed after him, hearing him talk to someone.</p><p> </p><p>“ – to introduce you to Lea!”</p><p> </p><p>A long- suffering male voice answered him</p><p> </p><p>“Rik, I don’t have time for your games.”</p><p> </p><p>A different voice joined in.</p><p> </p><p>“Let him have his fun.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea floated into the clearing, seeing to young men, both in their twenties. They were both had similar handsome features, both were tall and well muscled, with the elder having dark hair and intense brown eyes, and the younger dirty blond hair with blue-green eyes. Judging by the resemblance, they were related. Slightly irritated that they didn’t think she was real, she spoke crossly.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, I exist.”</p><p> </p><p>Startled the two young men snapped their gazes towards her. The elder made to speak, but Henrik broke the silence first.</p><p> </p><p>“Lea, these are my brothers! Klaus”, he pointed to the younger one “and Elijah.”</p><p> </p><p>The two stared at her warily, approaching to protectively stand in front of Henrik. Azalea held her hands up in the universal signal of surrender.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not going to do anything.”</p><p> </p><p>The elder spoke</p><p> </p><p>“Forgive me if I have trouble believing you, but generally speaking, unbound spirits are not benevolent beings.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not unbound, I have a body! I’m just not…attached… to it right now…”</p><p> </p><p>She stopped speaking as the brother gave her dubious looks. Yeah, she barely it believed herself, and she was the spirit in question.</p><p> </p><p>“Look, if I do anything weird, then feel free to banish me or whatever.”</p><p> </p><p>The younger, Klaus, spoke this time.</p><p> </p><p>“And why do you think that we could do that.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea shot him a ‘don’t bullshit me’ look.</p><p> </p><p>“You two obviously have some experience with magic, you wouldn’t be so comfortable around a spirit otherwise.”</p><p> </p><p>Obviously fed up with the conversation, Henrik broke the tense atmosphere.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on, you promised you would play with me.”</p><p> </p><p>The two brothers shared a glance before stepping aside, desire to keep their sibling happy outweighing their distrust of the still unnamed ghost. She was right though, if she proved malevolent, they could banish her together. Or at least weaken her until their mother or Kol could.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea and Henrik had ended up playing a game of tag, with Henrik’s concerned brothers watching on.</p><p> </p><p>She did not <em>seem </em>hostile, but it was hard to tell with ghosts.</p><p> </p><p>Henrik eventually fell asleep in the shade of an ancient oak tree, and Klaus broke the silence that had fallen between the three.</p><p> </p><p>“What are your intentions towards our brother?”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea let out a sigh of irritation, she understood that they wanted to protect their brother, but that didn’t keep their suspicion from annoying her.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t have any ‘intentions. I just showed up here and Henrik stumbled upon me. I guess he thinks we’re friends now.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve never heard of a ghost befriending the living.”</p><p> </p><p>Now very annoyed, Azalea snapped out,</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not a ghost.”</p><p> </p><p>The older one, Elijah, broke his silence.</p><p> </p><p>“Then what are you.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m a Memini - whatever that means.” There was a look of recognition on the older one’s face, but the younger did not seem to share his brother’s knowledge. At their still wary body language, she continued.</p><p> </p><p> “Look, I keep on appearing here after I fall into a trance, I can’t do anything to stop it, and I’ve no intention of hurting anyone all right?”</p><p> </p><p>The brothers exchanged a look, coming to the mutual conclusion that being cautiously hospitable was the best course of action, and the tension between the three eased into something more tolerable.</p><p> </p><p>Silence fell upon the clearing as the three waited for Henrik to awaken.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>The trend continued, with Azalea bouncing between the past and the present. Her stay at the hospital gave more questions than answered, with the witches there being very tight lipped. All Azalea learned was that her mysterious benefactor was very powerful and, judging by the witches attitude every time she brought it up, very terrifying. The witches themselves were, well. Azalea did not like them. They treated her like she was a kind of experiment. Don’t get her wrong, she was grateful for what they were doing for her, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were more interested in her abilities than her health. All in all, it was a boring, yet paradoxically, tiring experience.</p><p> </p><p>The past, on the other hand, was substantially more interesting.</p><p> </p><p>For whatever reason, she would only pop up in the proximity of the three Mikaelson siblings that she knew. Azalea figured that it was some mysterious aspect of her trances that she still hadn’t gotten any answers on – that made her manifest near her friends.</p><p> </p><p>Yes. Friends.</p><p> </p><p>Henrik was an adorable ray of sunshine who decided that they were friends and after a couple more visits Elijah and Klaus had become more friendly when they started to get that she really was not a malevolent being. So, when she appeared, they had started to become what one could almost call welcoming. Well, Elijah was welcoming. Klaus decided to show his affection by being a pain in the ass – he shot an arrow through her and cackled like a hyena when she freaked out, things passing through her insubstantial body felt <em>weird </em>– but she figured that being annoying was how he decided to show if he like you or not. It was strangely endearing. He grew on her like some sort of bio-luminescent fungus. He was really cool but could be profoundly vexing.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was a gentleman.  He was respectful and courteous to her when she appeared, but still had some hints of wariness in his demeanor that were slowly disappearing as they got to now each other better. He was kind to her. And Azalea knew that kindness was a rare commodity, especially in a time like this. And he taught her things. That was the other thing she liked about him, he respected her enough to answer her questions. She had enough of being ignored in the Anchorage, and it meant a lot to her that he would indulge her curiosity no matter how stupid the question was. Their current conversation supporting that observation.</p><p> </p><p>“So exactly why are you gathering flowers?”</p><p> </p><p>He carefully snapped a delicate bloom from a shrub.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother is an extremely accomplished witch. She asks that her children help her in her craft from time to time.”</p><p> </p><p>“What’s so special about these plants?”</p><p> </p><p>“This one,” He held up a light pink specimen, “Has mystical properties of protection when used properly.”</p><p> </p><p>“What about that light blue one you just picked?”</p><p> </p><p>The conversation continued in a similar vein until Azalea finally brought up something that had been weighing on her mind.</p><p> </p><p>“Speaking of magic, do you know what wrong with me? You recognized the name – Memini.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ah. Yes.” </p><p> </p><p>He absentmindedly picked another flower.</p><p> </p><p>“In the distant past, a powerful witch had found the secret to eternal youth and sought to grant her human lover the same. She developed a spell that would draw upon the power and immortality of the soul to grant her mortal lover eternal life. The lover had an affair with a man from their tribe. The witch found out, and in her jealous rage, destroyed the lover and all evidence of her existence. The witch was later killed by the members of a different tribe. Unbeknownst her, the lover had borne a child from her affair who passed down the abilities of the Memini to his descendants.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s it? That’s all anyone knows?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m afraid so.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“So, you’re telling me that there’s almost no information on what I am because one of my ancestors was a cheat who couldn’t keep it in her pants? </p><p> </p><p>Elijah looked down at his gathered ingredients to hide his amused expression at her comment, a quiet chuckle rising from his throat.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you laughing at me?!”</p><p> </p><p>The chuckle grew louder in the face of her comical rage. After a few more moments of trying to maintain her annoyance, Azalea broke down and joined him.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus and Elijah seemed so different, but the one thing that Azalea found that they had in common was their high intellect and their peculiar ability to always get what they wanted. They knew what they desired and how to get it. Even in her rather limited interactions with the two, she saw that much at least.</p><p> </p><p>It was with that thought in mind that she came upon the two arguing. It was not some petty brotherly bickering. It was a true fight, raised voices, low blows, the whole nine yards.</p><p> </p><p>After Klaus stormed of in a (dramatic) huff, Elijah leaned against the tree, head tilted up at the sky. He was angry with and jealous of his brother and angry with himself for letting this get between the two of them.</p><p> </p><p>“Is there something wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>He jerked his head in Azalea’s direction, not expecting her to be there.</p><p> </p><p>“…No. No, it is nothing.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea waited. She didn’t know what was going on, but she didn’t like to see him like this. If he didn’t want to speak with her, maybe he would find silent companionship comforting. If she had a fight with someone she loved, Azalea knew that she would. After some amount of time spent in brooding silence, Elijah spoke, figuring that another point of view may offer him some clarity.</p><p> </p><p>“There is a woman. Tatia.”</p><p> </p><p>Ah. A woman. A slight pang hit her heart. This was making more sense. What it a love triangle or was this woman cheating on one of them…?</p><p> </p><p>“And you like this Tatia…?”</p><p> </p><p>“I care for her deeply. As does Niklaus.”</p><p> </p><p>Love triangle. And one with brothers, as well. That was never good.</p><p> </p><p>“And this has been happening for…?”</p><p> </p><p>“Weeks. My brother and I… we cannot.”</p><p> </p><p>He let out a frustrated huff of air</p><p> </p><p> She understood now. This was not about Tatia, not really.</p><p> </p><p>“You are not angry with him. You are angry with yourself. This isn’t about this Tatia, this is about your relationship with your brother.”</p><p> </p><p>He stilled at her blunt statement and whirled to face her in an abrupt burst of movement. He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it, seemingly at a loss for words. That more than anything showed her how much this was getting to him. Elijah was not exactly what one would call a hesitant person.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you want my take on it, or do you want me to keep my mouth shut?”</p><p> </p><p>He just made a half-hearted ‘go on’ gesture with his hand.</p><p> </p><p>She was going to take that as a yes.</p><p> </p><p>“If I had a brother or sister, and we were in love with the same person I guess… what I would ask myself is this: is this worth the effect it would have on my relationship with my sibling? Will my relationship with my sibling survive this? If not, do I think this person is worth that sacrifice? If it could, is what I stand to gain worth the aftermath? Is being with this person worth the pain it would cause?”</p><p> </p><p>She was silent for a moment.</p><p> </p><p>“It really comes down to what you are willing to sacrifice. That’s… all I can say, really.”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah resumed his previous position against the tree. When put like that, it was rather simple. He knew the answers to those questions which meant he knew what he must do.</p><p> </p><p>He heard an unnatural rustle of leaves in the otherwise still clearing and looked up to see empty air where Azalea once stood.</p><p> </p><p>He needed to talk to his brother.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea reappeared a week later. It was a funny thing, these projections. The time was not the same on both sides. She could spend a day here and only five minuets would pass there. Sometimes, vice-versa. And other times it was the same length of time.</p><p> </p><p>She found Elijah in the same spot in the woods as last time. It seemed to be the place he would go to get some peace. She approached him, and settled next to his still form, he gave no indication that he wanted her to leave.</p><p> </p><p>He was staring pensively into the forest, obviously contemplating something, before he finally broke the silence.</p><p> </p><p>“Tatia is to marry Niklaus after the next harvest.”</p><p> </p><p>Her heart ached for him. Unrequited love sucked.</p><p> </p><p>“…I’m so sorry Elijah.”</p><p> </p><p>“It was the right choice.”</p><p> </p><p>Maybe, but that didn’t make it any less painful.</p><p> </p><p>He forcefully banished his melancholy and stood up, holding out a hand to help her up even though the gesture was useless. Regardless, she put her hand in his, a shiver running down her spine at the contact.</p><p> </p><p>“Come. I would like to introduce you to the rest of us.”</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>She though Klaus was the bio-luminescent fungi of the family, but the title obviously belonged to Kol.</p><p> </p><p>It was just. He was so. Annoying. And yet, so endearing.</p><p> </p><p>He would say or do something that made you want to stab him with a rusty spork and then would turn around and say or do something else that would make you feel the exact opposite. It was rather impressive, in an odd sort of way.</p><p> </p><p>Rebecca doted on her brothers, in a rather subtle, snarky way, Henrik most of all. She was cheerful and bright, with a wicked sense of humor that kind of snuck up on people out of nowhere.</p><p> </p><p>All in all, the younger Mikaelsons were a delight to be around. At least, they were a delight after the initial suspicious hostilities were over with.</p><p> </p><p>The eldest, Fin, was a buzzkill. He was a very pedantic man, not being very close to the rest of his siblings. Azalea got the impression that when he interacted with his siblings, he was looking for someone else. He seemed to compare them to another absent person, and none of them measured up. He loved them, that Azalea believed, but he did not connect with them.</p><p> </p><p>Presently, she was in the forest with Kol and Rebecca who were looking for ingredients for their family friend, Ayana. The others were in the village, a place Azalea was not going to go unless she wanted to be exorcised or something. The whole ‘gathering of ingredients’ seemed to be a normal pastime for the family.</p><p> </p><p>Presently, Kol was teasing Rebekah about a crush she had on a village boy, Rebekah looking about ready to kill her brother. Azalea was standing behind Kol, and caught Rebekah’s eye, pantomiming throwing him into the clear pond they were standing next to.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah grinned, and did so.</p><p> </p><p>Kol landed in the pond with a splash…and a shriek.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea broke down into helpless laughter.</p><p> </p><p>“Why brother, you sound adorable. Or should I say sister?”</p><p> </p><p>Kol surfaced with a splutter and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He dragged himself out of the pond before and stood on the bank observing to two laughing woman, before a smirk appeared on his face. He sprinted towards his sister and bear hugged her, soaking her with pond water, before dashing away. Rebekah shrieked and followed after her brother intent on revenge, Azalea’s laughter providing a soundtrack to their chase.</p><p> </p><p> They all froze when they heard footsteps approaching. Klaus entered the clearing, observed the chaos, and simply asked</p><p> </p><p>“What are you doing?”</p><p> </p><p>They all shared a glance before Azalea spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“Gathering herbs…?”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus’s lips quirked up in an amused smile, before he spoke, effectively ruining he light atmosphere.</p><p> </p><p>“Kol, Rebecca, Father is looking for you.”</p><p> </p><p>They looked almost… terrified of something.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry, Mother is home as well.”</p><p> </p><p>Relief appeared in their faces.</p><p> </p><p>That was the last impression that she gained from the siblings. They loved their mother, idolized her even, but were terrified of their father.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Beginnings - Prelude to Disaster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mikael is a terrible father. Azlaea and Elijah grow closer.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azalea appeared in the woods once more, expecting to find Rebekah, Kol, or Henrik as they had been the three venturing out into the forest lately. Klaus was focused on his engagement to Tatia, Elijah was trying to be supportive to his brother, and Finn was being…Finn.</p><p> </p><p>Instead, Azalea immediately ran into a beaten bloody Klaus. She ran to him and kneeled beside his pained form.</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus, what happened?”</p><p> </p><p>“Father.”</p><p> </p><p>She knew that Mikael was an asshole from her talks with the siblings, but she didn’t know that he was an abusive asshole.</p><p> </p><p>“I took one of his knives.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll go get Elijah or –”</p><p> </p><p>“No. Don’t. Elijah distracted him.”</p><p> </p><p>He leaned his head back against the tree he was up against and focused on breathing through his bruised ribs.</p><p> </p><p>She could not help it. She threw her arms around him in a facsimile of an embrace, desperately wanting to give him some form of comfort. Klaus stiffened at the contact, groaning slightly as the movement jostled his injuries, and then relaxed, melting into the presence of someone that he knew would not hurt him.</p><p> </p><p>There had to be something she could do to help him. Elijah had said that she could access the ‘power of the soul’. The soul was eternal and enduring, it had the potential to heal from any wound inflicted upon it. Maybe she could….</p><p> </p><p>Azalea leaned back, held her hands over Klaus’s intestate form and focused. After a few moments, something happened. As her hands brushed through him, it was as if she could feel what he felt, physically and emotionally. She could feel the pain he was in, the mixed hatred for his father, and his desire for his approval, his confusion and surprise over his brother’s interference, his yearning for his family, his shame over being so weak, his deep sense of isolation, his love for Tatia, all of it.</p><p> </p><p>No. There had to be a way for her to sooth him. She pushed harder, and a slight glimmer appeared over the worst of his wounds.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus relaxed slightly and breathed deeper, as his ribs eased and the pain pervading his body dulled, a sense of peace sweeping over him. Azalea gasped as power drained from her body before collapsing on the ground by Klaus, exhausted from her efforts. He leaned closer to her in concern, about to speak before Elijah’s voice pierced through the darkening forest.</p><p> </p><p> “Niklaus!”</p><p> </p><p>“Here!”</p><p> </p><p>A very disheveled Elijah came into view. He had blood on his face and was favoring his left side.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah…”</p><p> </p><p>“Finn helped with father. Can you walk?”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus braced himself against the tree and dragged himself up but looked back down at the exhausted form of Azalea.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll stay with her. Go.”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus cast one last concerned look over the two of them before slowly making his way back towards the village to find his mother and Ayana.</p><p> </p><p>There was silence between the two, the light of the sunset casting shadows through the canopy. Azalea could see that though Elijah was hurt, it was not as bad as Klaus was. When he lowered himself next to her, he let out an audible sigh of relief. No longer able to contain herself, she asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah. What happened?”</p><p> </p><p>“Father happened.” Elijah was silent for a moment before he elaborated.</p><p> </p><p>“Father hates Niklaus. He believes that he is weak. Father… he was beating Niklaus to death, so I interfered, and told him to run. We fought until Rebekah took his sword and threatened to kill him.”</p><p> </p><p>That was horrifying.</p><p> </p><p>“Has Mikael always been like this?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. For all of Niklaus’s life.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea stopped the line of questioning, aware that she was stumbling on to an even more sensitive topic. Seeing Elijah wince one more in pain she pushed through her exhaustion and reached out, pushing healing power into Elijah’s body. The power rushed out of her, leaving her even more diminished than before.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you. When did you learn that?”</p><p> </p><p>She recognized that he was trying to distract himself from what happened, so she went with it.</p><p> </p><p>“About five minutes ago. I healed Klaus as best I could.”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah could see how much healing himself and his brother had taken out of her. He did not want her to harm herself over him.</p><p> </p><p>“And this healing seems to harm you.”</p><p> </p><p>That was not a question.</p><p> </p><p>“Its more tiring than harmful.” She was quiet for a few moments, letting energy flow back into her body. “Elijah, when I healed him, could feel him. I don’t know how he handles this but its really messing him up.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea knew that sharing someone’s private emotions wasn’t the best thing for her to do, but she was worried about Klaus. The things that she felt from him… it wasn’t right.</p><p> </p><p>“He didn’t understand why you helped him. Elijah, I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I don’t think he truly understands that you and the rest of your siblings love him.”</p><p> </p><p>A pained expression appeared on his face.</p><p> </p><p>“I love Niklaus. We all do. How could he doubt that?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know. But that’s how he feels.” She could see the vulnerability written into his body language at this revelation about his brother. “Elijah, we need to help him. I know I’m not family, but Klaus is my friend and I don’t want to see any of you suffer like this.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. You are right. We will fix this.” He shifted to face her, a serious expression on his face. “Azalea, you do realize that we all care for you. Deeply. Even Finn.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve barely said more than a sentence to Finn.”</p><p> </p><p>“But he sees that you care for us. He didn’t even tell mother about you when she asked, and he is very close to her.”</p><p> </p><p>A bolt of fear shot through her. All the Mikaelson siblings had made it clear that their mother would banish her if she ever caught sight of her. Azalea did not know what a banishment would do to her body, but she did not want to find out.</p><p> </p><p>“Your mother asked about me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Mother can tell that something has changed about us.”</p><p> </p><p>She had actually made that much of an impact in their lives? That meant…. Something to her.  A good something.</p><p> </p><p>“She can?”</p><p> </p><p>“You are the only female friend Rebekah has, Kol is actually volunteering to gather ingredients  – something he normally hates doing -, Niklaus and I have stopped fighting over Tatia, and Henrik is very happy. She knows that something has changed.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t want to get any of you at odds with your mother.”</p><p> </p><p>“Mother is already irritated with Klaus and I, and she has always been closer to Finn and Henrik than Kol and Rebecca”</p><p> </p><p>Why was Esther mad at Elijah? Azalea was under the impression that she favored Elijah over the rest of the siblings, save Finn.</p><p> </p><p>“Why’s she mad at you?”</p><p> </p><p>“She did not want Tatia to marry Niklaus. It was her desire that I be with her instead.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh… I’m sorry you have to deal with that too.”</p><p> </p><p>“Its of no matter. I have found that my affection for Tatia was much different than I originally believed. Mother is having difficulties accepting that.”</p><p> </p><p>Silence fell, the two of them drawing comfort form the other’s presence, until Azalea broke the contemplative mood.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you going back?”</p><p> </p><p>“No. Not tonight.”</p><p> </p><p>He exhaled sharply before he stood up, forcefully turning his mind to another subject. He offered her a hand as he always did. As she stood up, he spoke again.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve inquired with Ayana about Memini and she was able to find more information.”</p><p> </p><p>He picked up a sword that Azalea hadn’t seen on him until now and walked deeper into the woods gesturing for Azalea to follow him.</p><p> </p><p>“The witch drew upon the power of the veil between worlds and used Wisteria and Moonflower to channel the power of the soul. Therefore, Memini’s power is drawn from their very soul. Ayana theorized that the soul responds to intent, to a certain extent.”</p><p> </p><p>That made sense. She had wanted to heal and sooth Klaus so, her power reacted accordingly. She nodded to indicate that she was listening.</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever power is developed in the beginning is what dictates what power you will develop later.”</p><p> </p><p>All right. That wasn’t so bad. Azalea had wanted to heal and protect, and she had given part of herself to do so. Therefore, any future developments would reflect that. Azalea was happy with that, being able to help her loved ones was a good power set in her opinion.</p><p> </p><p>They came upon a clearing with a ring of white flowers in the middle. Elijah stopped and pointed to them saying,</p><p> </p><p>“Those are Moonflowers. They should create a barrier or something of that nature if you approach them.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea did just that. As she approached, the flowers lit with a bright silvery glow, forming a barrier that she could not cross. The light illuminated her spectral form, making her iridescent in the night.</p><p> </p><p>She turned to Elijah, a smile illuminating her face.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”</p><p> </p><p>He thought he had some idea. Not for the first time, he wondered what it was like for Azalea in her time. If she was so thankful over something as small as this, then he didn’t think it was anything good. When she appeared, she always seemed so happy to see them. That by itself was not cause for alarm, but the relief that tinged her face every time she appeared was.</p><p> </p><p>Her voiced pierced the night.</p><p> </p><p>“But it was a ritual of immortality and eternal youth. Right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. I do not know what type of immortality, but yes.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh. So that means I’m…” She trailed off; discomfort evident in her body language.</p><p> </p><p>He did not like thinking of the implications of that either. It would be a cruel fate to walk the earth for an eternity, forever watching mortals die and time pass by as you stayed the same. That was the fate that was in store for her, and he hated it.</p><p> </p><p>He did not like to think that she would be walking the earth without him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>It kind of became their thing. When she manifested, Elijah would seek her out, and take her deeper into the woods so that she could experiment with her power after she had spent time with whomever she was with that day. It was interesting, because more often than not, she appeared near him,</p><p> </p><p>But it was more than that. They spoke, discovered, and laughed together, learning things about each other as their understanding grew deeper.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m in a hospital.”</p><p> </p><p>He cocked his head to the side at the unfamiliar word.</p><p> </p><p>“A hospital?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a facility that healers gather in to help people. These trances, they keep me confined there. Travelling here is the only freedom I have.”</p><p> </p><p>“And what is it like in your time?”</p><p> </p><p>Oh. This was the first time he had shown interest in her like that.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, its –“</p><p> </p><p>Her voice cut off. She tried again, to no avail. She met his concerned gaze and shrugged.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t think I can talk about it.”</p><p> </p><p>He was quiet for a moment before offering up a theory.</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe its due to your travelling in time?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. That must be it.”</p><p> </p><p>He was rather disappointed. He had wanted to learn more about the world she had came from, the time she called her own. The more time he spent with her, the more he felt drawn to her. It was at the point that he could accurately guess when and where she was going to manifest.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was not an idiot, and he was a witch even if he wasn’t one for practicing magic. He knew what that meant. Every supernatural being knew what that meant. Except Azalea apparently.</p><p> </p><p>The concept of soulmates was a myth, though it had some foundation in the truth. The title was a misnomer because there was no designated ‘mate’ for anyone’s soul.</p><p> </p><p>What there existed was potential. Even as a human, one could sense it, a person that you instinctively got along with. In magical being like himself, that instinct became a tangible feeling. When a witch, werewolf, or any other kind of supernatural being met a person who had the potential to suit them, they felt that pull. However, it was entirely their decision whether or not to follow it.</p><p> </p><p>He had first felt that pull to Tatia, but he had ultimately chosen to not pursue it, for his brother had felt it as well.</p><p> </p><p>When he had set her out of his mind, the yearning had reappeared, directing him to Azalea.</p><p> </p><p>He felt that pull to her, and he knew she felt it towards him. He knew that it would end in tragedy, but he could not help but pursue.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>After Azalea’s revelation about Klaus’s state of mind to Elijah, the dynamics of the siblings changed. It began with Elijah, but eventually they all found ways to redirect Mikael from his irrational hatred of Klaus. They all had their issues, but they one thing all the siblings could agree on was that family was all you had. Knowing that their brother had thought he was unloved by them, well. That changed things.</p><p> </p><p>Finn would conspire to keep his mother closer to her husband because she was often the only one who could calm Mikael from his rages. Kol and Rebekah, on the other hand, would just annoy him so much that his wrath became diverted from Klaus to them instead. Elijah, being cooler headed than his younger siblings, took a different path, instead making sure not to leave Klaus alone with their father. Between the two of them, they were capable of restraining Mikael.</p><p> </p><p>As for Klaus himself, the previously unprecedented support from his sibling went miles to helping him get into a more stable frame of mind. He never expressed it, but that support meant the world to him. It was proof that he was loved, and he could admit that much in the privacy of his own mind.</p><p> </p><p>The one thing they were all firm on was keeping Henrik away from Mikael as much as possible.</p><p> </p><p>It was not good, but it was better.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I almost killed Father”</p><p> </p><p>That was not what Azalea expected to hear when she appeared in the woods today.</p><p> </p><p>“O..kay… Rebekah. Why did you not kill him?”</p><p> </p><p>“Finn stopped me.”</p><p> </p><p>Well, props to him for not encouraging patricide, she guessed.</p><p> </p><p>“It happened the night after Father hurt Elijah and Klaus.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea didn’t respond immediately, instead turning to observe Kol, who was teaching Henrik about the magical properties of the various plants around them. Henrik’s cheerful exclamations mingled with Kol’s joking responses created a lively symphony that echoed around the clearing.</p><p> </p><p>She was in no way qualified to deal with the tangled mess that was the Mikaelson’s relationship with their father, but she seemed to be the only once any of them would talk to.</p><p> </p><p>“This morning he told me that he almost wished that he let me kill him.”</p><p> </p><p>Henrik ran away from his brother, apparently bored with his lessons and laughed as Kol chased him.</p><p> </p><p>“And you are telling me this…?”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah huffed and turned to face her.</p><p> </p><p>“I wish he let me. We would all be happier without him.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea sighed and met Rebekah’s eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“I think that Finn didn’t want you to bear the burden of killing your own father. He remembers a time when Mikael was kind, so I guess he can’t bring himself to want him dead.”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah moodily leaned back into the grass at that less than satisfactory answer as Henrik shrieked when Kol caught him and set them both down by the two woman.</p><p> </p><p>She felt the tell-tale tugging in her chest that signified Elijah’s approach, and perked up. Kol noticed the look on her face and couldn’t resist adding commentary.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I see that Elijah is near.” He turned to Azalea, a mischievous smirk on his face. “Do pass on our greeting. That is, if you can detach yourself from him long enough to remember.”</p><p> </p><p>Rolling her eyes, Azalea flipped Kol the universal finger and got up to go meet Elijah, the sibling’s laughter following in her wake.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Time passed.</p><p> </p><p>It became a trend, she would appear around whatever sibling that it was this time, and just generally follow them around and make herself as useful as she could. She also healed them when she had the energy for it, Mikael’s violent temper beginning to extend to the rest of his children since they began to rally around Klaus. They almost had it down to an art form at this point, when Mikael was being…himself, one would distract him, another would get their mother, and the target of his rage – usually Klaus – would retreat to the woods until Mikael calmed down. It did not stop it completely though. The incidents when Mikael humiliated Klaus in front of the village, and when he pinned him to a tree with a sword through his shoulder stood out brilliantly in all their memories.</p><p> </p><p>It was not as bad as Mikael had probably intended it to be though, with all the siblings harshly shutting down anyone who brought it up within their hearing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>There was a woman, Sarah, in the village making interested overtures to Elijah. Azalea hated to admit it, but she was beautiful with her bright eyes, golden hair and lush figure. She forcefully tamped down the rising tide of jealousy. She knew that there was pressure for Elijah to settle down and raise a family as all men and women were to do in the village. Honestly, that fact that he was in his twenties and still unmarried and childless was surprising.</p><p> </p><p>“If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you marry?”</p><p> </p><p>“I could not spend my life with anyone that lives in this village.”</p><p> </p><p>“What about Sarah? If you give her a chance, she might make you happy.”</p><p> </p><p>“No.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why?”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah stepped close to her and held his palm close to her cheek. She could feel the warmth emanating from his hand, and she raised her own spectral palm to his own in a pale imitation of a clasp.</p><p> </p><p>“You know why.”</p><p> </p><p>And she did. It was a quiet unacknowledged thing, the feelings between the two of them. She had feelings for him, he had them for her, and they were both aware of it. It brought her joy that the man she lo… was falling for returned her feelings. The problem was, there was a millennium between the two of them.</p><p> </p><p>She did not want him to waste his life over a ghost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus and Tatia had married, much to Esther’s discontent. Azalea had attended the quiet ceremony, unseen by the guests. She had hidden in the back and focused on her desire to not be seen, to protect herself, and faded from view. It was something she discovered that she could do during her walks in the woods with Elijah. As long as she didn’t draw attention to herself or touch anyone, the effect would hold.</p><p> </p><p>It was a beautiful ceremony, the first time that she had seen Klaus truly happy. His love for his bride, and Tatia’s love for her groom fairly radiated off their bodies.</p><p> </p><p>The ceremony was short and to the point, with the afterparty being much longer and robust, with drinking, dancing, and feasting that lasted well into the night.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah had managed to spot her – she was terrible at hiding from him, probably because she never wanted to hide from him – and snuck off into the woods with her to share an impromptu dance.</p><p> </p><p>Honestly, that man. He was smooth.</p><p> </p><p>It was a good night to spend with the people you loved.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>The moon was a round opalescent beacon in the ink-dark sky.</p><p> </p><p>She manifested amid the woods, alone this time. She could hear the growling and snapping of the werewolves as the tore through the forest searching for prey.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea heard a howl of victory and a pained cry in a familiar voice.</p><p> </p><p>Henrik.</p><p> </p><p>She bolted towards the sounds, hoping she could do something, anything to protect him.</p><p> </p><p>It was too late.</p><p> </p><p>He was bloody from the claws and teeth of the wolves. There were jagged wounds littering his body, and he was making small, inarticulate cries of distress and pain with what little life he had left.</p><p> </p><p>She fell to her knees beside him, desperately reaching out, yearning to offer him comfort. She could not touch him. She was a ghost, she could not physically interact with him, could not offer the dying boy true companionship in his last moments.</p><p> </p><p>Despite this, she still placed her spectral hands over his, words of comfort and sorrow tumbling form her lips. She could not touch him, could not save him, but she could offer him this.  The glow of her spectral form illuminated him, throwing his fading form into sharp relief. His hands closed around hers.</p><p> </p><p>She could touch him.</p><p> </p><p>She tightened her grasp and moved closer, despair rising within her chest, and offered what relief she could.</p><p> </p><p>Henrik stilled, eyes staring sightless up at the full moon. Azalea clasped a hand over her mouth to silence her cry of grief, and broke into quiet tears. Her other hand phased uselessly through Henrik’s own, the appendage falling slack upon his body.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus ran into the clearing, searching for his youngest brother, only to find Azalea mourning over Henrik’s corpse.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Original Vampires</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Esther casts several plot-important spells.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WARNING: Dark Chapter. We all know what happens after Henrik dies.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Azalea was standing over the grave that had been dug for Henrik’s ashes, beside her was a grief filled Elijah and a guilt-stricken Klaus. Rebekah had arranged wreath of wildflowers and placed it over his grave, Kol casting a ward to keep his final resting place undisturbed. It was Finn who showed the most overt signs of grief, trapped between memories of the past and the desolation of the present.</p><p> </p><p>It had been to weeks since his death, and the wound was still fresh in all of them. They had withdrawn from the village in their grief, only going through the motions of life.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus had taken to solitary walks in the woods and ignoring absolutely everyone until Tatia had enough of it and made him talk to her, not that it was doing too much at the moment. Finn had become more silent and broodier than normal, distancing himself from Esther who he was usually so close to. Elijah and Azalea had turned to each other in an effort to find comfort, spending even more time in the forest than before, Elijah barley setting foot within the village unless it was to sleep, and Azalea barley spending more than a scant few hours in her own time when the strain of being separated form her body got too much. Rebekah had initially reacted with anger before breaking down into mournful tears at the news and had been wavering between rage and sorrow ever since. Kol had much the same, only he donned an unemotional mien, only expressing anger and occasionally sorrow.</p><p> </p><p>Mikael had reacted with anger, not that it was much of a surprise, and had gone on a warpath against the local werewolves. There was a mutual consensus between all of them to not tell him why Henrik was in the woods that night</p><p> </p><p>But Esther… she was quiet.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea returned to consciousness in that sterile room that she called her own.</p><p> </p><p>It was getting worse.</p><p> </p><p>That ever-present pull that directed her to Elijah, it hurt <em>so much</em> when she was in the flesh. And recently, it had been increasing in intensity. It was like she was being pulled in two directions. One part to the past, and another to the present.</p><p> </p><p>She did not want to be with whomever was on the other side of the connection in the present, she only wanted to be in the past with him.</p><p> </p><p>The bond yanked at her chest painfully, propelling her once more to the previous millennia.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>“A toast. In memory of Henrik.”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah and the rest of his siblings rose their glasses of wine in a mournful salute at Esther’s proclamation. The whole family was gathered here, excepting Tatia, who was visiting Ayana to have a deep cut she had gained earlier in the day healed, and Azalea, who was getting rest in her body and wouldn’t have even been visible even if she was present.</p><p> </p><p>He downed the wine, noting a strange metallic taste, and looked up just in time to see his father run his sword through his heart. He collapsed to the ground, anguish and confusion at the betrayal rising within him. Through his darkening eyes, he could see his fath- Mikael murder the rest of his siblings – First Kol, then Finn, then Rebekah, and lastly Klaus - before turning his sword upon himself. As Elijah lost his battle with unconsciousness, his mother’s magic rose to fill the air.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>What had they become?</p><p> </p><p>There was an empty hole within him where his magic had once been. Elijah had barely used it, and keenly felt its loss, he could not even imagine how Kol must feel.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was in their clearing, the one with the moonflowers, desperately trying to find peace. It was too much. Everything was magnified, he could hear the babbling of a brook, the lapping of an animal’s tongue against the water, smell the scent of a herd of deer somewhere to the north. The stars were brighter, the night sky luminous under his enhanced vision.</p><p> </p><p>Then there were the emotions.</p><p> </p><p>His anger and fear of his father had turned to rage and terror, his love and devotion for his siblings magnified a hundred-fold.</p><p> </p><p>The worst was the bloodlust.</p><p> </p><p>It was an ever-present urge to run, to hunt, to <em>feed.</em></p><p> </p><p>He had been the first to awaken. There was a bowl of blood in the room, the intoxicating sent of it igniting a fire in his throat. He had leapt for it and drank it, the crimson substance feeling like the sweetest of ambrosia’s as it went down his throat. And then he had heard a heartbeat and had lost himself entirely.</p><p> </p><p>He had come back to his senses, a sickening feeling of satiation in his stomach, and the corpses of people he had known his entire life littering the ground around him.</p><p> </p><p>Horrified, he had dashed into the forest.</p><p> </p><p>His survival meant another’s death. He was sustained by death.</p><p> </p><p>There was an unnatural rustle of wind in the air, a blinding flash of light.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah?”</p><p> </p><p>He whirled to face her with a hiss, dark veins appearing, eyes bloody, lethal fangs on display. Horrified, he stumbled back at the look of surprise and fear on her face. Azalea’s face quickly shifted to determination and she reached out to him, moving closer to him.</p><p> </p><p>She reached out an insubstantial hand and slowly traced his still predatory features.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah, what happened?”</p><p> </p><p>He could feel the yearning more keenly than before, but she gave no indication that she could feel its increased intensity as well.</p><p> </p><p>“I -”</p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t speak, his horror at the situation still crashing down upon him in waves.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother and Mikael, they <em>changed</em> us.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea listened as Elijah spoke of what happened, sorrow and fury warring with in her at the actions of Esther and Mikael. How could they do that to their own children?</p><p> </p><p>Emotional as she was, Azalea did not notice Elijah studying her intently. The bond between them had increased on his end, but not on hers. He knew that Azalea had always felt it more intently than he did – up until now, at least – and felt it incredibly keenly when she was in her bod. He had always found that odd because bonds were supposed to develop equally on both ends. The only explanation for why it was growing so oddly was that it was forming in her time as well. That meant that in her time, he was still alive.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea did not remember much of her history, but he suspected that this connection of theirs had something to do with why she ended up so far in the past.</p><p> </p><p>This was the only thing that gave him a glimmer of hope. If he was right, if he could live for that long, then he would find her if he took the long way.</p><p> </p><p>“We should go to them – perhaps they’re awake.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>All of them - Mikael, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah – were trapped within their home. The sun had become their enemy, it burned them when they attempted to set foot outdoors during the day.</p><p> </p><p>It had taken weeks, but Esther came up with a solution. A ring set with lapis lazuli, enspelled with protection from the sun’s harmful rays.</p><p> </p><p>The weeks forced into close quarters was driving them all insane, with the only respite being when they could escape into the woods at night. They had managed to learn some measure on control during those weeks, with the ability to hear their prey – no their fellow villagers – and not reach them, but in truth it was the boundary that they discovered existed in all thresholds that protected the people from being killed in their beds.</p><p> </p><p>As for Azalea, she waited in the woods until she could meet them at night, and together they learned.</p><p> </p><p>They found that the pale lilac blossoms that grew at the base of the ancient oak tree – Vervain - burned them and that whatever that tree was, it had something to do with their affliction that they had taken to calling it vampirism. Whenever they drew near it, a prickle would raise on their neck, their basic instincts screaming danger.</p><p> </p><p>Esther kept them in the house during the day so that they would not kill the villagers who were out and about, and for a time, it worked.</p><p> </p><p>And then it all went wrong.</p><p> </p><p>Late afternoon of sunny day, Esther had gotten into a raging fight with Ayana, and her magic had reacted to her emotions, and the spell keeping them constrained to the house had broken.</p><p> </p><p>They broke free and scented the people of the village with their rushing blood and pulsing heart beats singing a seductive tune to their senses.</p><p> </p><p>Instinct took over.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Azalea arrived at the scene of a massacre. The once bustling village was now a ghost town, corpses littering the area. The survivors were presumably hiding in their houses, under the protection of their thresholds.</p><p> </p><p>The spell binding them to the house must have failed. Sickened at the scene before her she retreated into the woods to find one of the siblings.</p><p> </p><p>It was a terrible thing that they had done, as terrible as what had been done to them.  Horrifying or not, the Mikaelsons were the only family she had. It would take more than vampirism to make her give up on them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus was standing over the ravaged corpse of his wife, her blood splatter dying his body crimson.</p><p> </p><p>He had run into the forest at his transformation to wolf, confusion and a sense of betrayal driving him away. Elijah had followed him, catching up to him as he transformed back to humanoid. His brother had consoled him, talking him through the initial tide of confusion and sense of betrayal at him mother's lies. There had been a rustle in the leaves, and Klaus had looked up to meet the horrified gaze of his wife.</p><p> </p><p>Horrified at what her husband had become, Tatia had run from him. Their bond that he had been feeling more fiercely since his transition into vampire had snapped, the painful backlash making instinct take over once more. Tatia had fell and cut herself on a sharp thorn, the scent of her blood tinging the air.</p><p> </p><p>When he came to, he was greeted by this. Her corpse, and a a weeping emptiness where his bond with his wife used to be.</p><p> </p><p>He had killed his own wife. <em>He had killed her.</em></p><p> </p><p>He stumbled back and fell to the ground beside her, the weight at what he had done falling upon him.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah appeared by his brother and took in the scene. Seeing the shell-shocked look on his face, he sped to him.</p><p> </p><p>“Niklaus?”</p><p> </p><p>There was no response, Niklaus staring at Tatia’s body in horrified silence.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah shook Klaus’s arm, bringing him out of his daze. Klaus turned to meet his brother’s gaze, bracing himself for condemnation, only to see his own grief reflected in the eyes of his brother.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother. Mother can help.”</p><p> </p><p>Even through the betrayal he felt, Klaus knew that his mother was the only one who could help him. He picked up Tatia’s body, cradling it in his arms, and followed Elijah.</p><p> </p><p>It was his fault. He had destroyed the thing that he loved the most.</p><p> </p><p>A new resolve formed in his heart. He would never harm the people he loved so again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>They arrived just in time to see their father speed off in the direction of the werewolf pack, their mother looking after him with a conflicted expression on her face.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother!”</p><p> </p><p>Esther turned to see her children, the body of her daughter-in-law, a woman she had loved like she was her own, in her middle child’s arms.</p><p> </p><p>Spirits above, what had she created?</p><p> </p><p>She could see the desperation on their faces, their pleading with her to help them. She could hear the harsh words of her husband and the sibilant whispers of her sisters on the Other Side in her mind, urging her to set this right.</p><p> </p><p>Esther smiled and held out her hands.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course, I will help you. Lay her here.”</p><p> </p><p>Hope arose on Klaus’s face, and he gently set Tatia’s body down before his mother.</p><p> </p><p>Esther lit a magical fire around Tatia’s body and began chanting, drawing out the power inherent in the doppelganger’s blood to help fuel her spell.</p><p> </p><p>She held out a hand in the direction of her elder son, and concentrated. It was difficult, restraining both of her children and casting a powerful curse at once, but with the power from the Spirits, she could do it.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah collapsed, writhing in pain, the magical aneurysm incapacitating him. Klaus screamed in agony and fury at his mother’s treachery as the curse took hold, blocking him off from his true nature.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother?”</p><p> </p><p>Esther froze and turned to see the rest of her children standing behind her, looks of confusion and betrayal on their faces at what they had heard and saw.</p><p> </p><p>They were not supposed to be here.</p><p> </p><p>It was Finn who had spoken, her eldest, the one dearest to her heart. He was looking at her as if he had never seen her before. Rebekah and Kol were glaring at her, the usual love they had for her absent. Desperately looking for something – <em>anything</em> – to divert her children from what she had done, her eyes landed on the pale form of a woman who was flickering lightly behind her two surviving youngest.</p><p> </p><p>“Finn, who is this?”</p><p> </p><p>He shook his head, ignoring her.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother, what have you done?” He turned to the ghostly woman. “Did you know?”</p><p> </p><p>Her ghostly voice echoed throughout the clearing.</p><p> </p><p>“No, I just felt that there was something wrong with Elijah.”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah spoke next.</p><p> </p><p>“Mother, what did you do to them.”</p><p> </p><p>Recognizing the magic even if he could not use it anymore, Kol spoke as well.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a curse. I don’t know what it does, but she cursed Klaus.”</p><p> </p><p> Their other faces started to show as rage started to course through their bodies.</p><p> </p><p>It that spirit’s fault. They would not have found them if it were not for her. They would not be looking at her like this if it were not for her. Esther raised her hands once more, and telekinetically forced her children away from the ghost, and began chanting an exorcism.</p><p> </p><p>The wraith screamed as the magic hit her, her form beginning to fade. She could feel Finn, Kol, and Rebekah struggling against her magical hold, but they could not overcome her. Not while she was channeling the power of those on the Other Side.</p><p> </p><p>Esther’s voice cut off, a look of agonized bewilderment appearing on her face. Pain emanated from her back, blood dying her dress crimson. Behind her was a guilt-stricken Elijah, his mother’s heart clenched in his hand.</p><p> </p><p>Silence fell. Surprise and horror painted Azalea and the Mikaelson’s faces as Esther’s corpse fell to the ground with a dull thud.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I can barely remember the plot of Vampire Diaries, so I'm pretty much going of the Wiki. I'm pretty sure that I've taken some major liberties with the magic.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Through the Centuries - Kol</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The aftermath and Kol's view on life as a vampire.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>A sick feeling rose within Elijah, and he dropped his mother’s heart beside her body. The stares of his siblings burned into him.</p><p> </p><p>“I couldn’t let her…”</p><p> </p><p>His words echoed in the silence, breaking the paralysis that had fallen over all of them.</p><p> </p><p>Finn moved first, coming to stand in front of his two younger brothers.</p><p> </p><p>When Azalea had found him, Kol, and Rebekah and told them that something was wrong with Elijah, he feared that Mikael had hurt or killed him. He was not expecting the enemy to be their mother.</p><p> </p><p>Months ago, before Henrik’s death, before all of this, he would have abandoned his brother. He would have condemned him over the death of their mother. But now things were different. Now was after he had seen his mother ignore Mikael’s abuse of her children unless one of them forced her to step in. Now was after he had opened his heart to his family for the first time since Freya’s death. Now was after he had endured his father’s hate for the sake of his brother.</p><p> </p><p>Esther had changed them into parasitic abominations, robbed them of their magic, tortured his younger brother, cursed the other, and tried to banish the only person his family had left. Considering that, he found himself much more sympathetic to his brother than his mother. He was not happy with what Elijah did, but he would not shun him for it. He glanced over at Rebekah and Kol and saw that they felt the same. He did not bother checking how Azalea felt, he knew that she would always be at Elijah’s side.</p><p> </p><p>He loved his brother more than his mother. They all did.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah.”</p><p> </p><p>The vampire in question stiffened, waiting for his brother’s condemnation. Instead he felt the weight of his brother’s hand on his shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“I loved mother. You know this. But what she did to you both…” he shook his head, a combination of sorrow and fury flashing across his face. “I cannot abide by it.”</p><p> </p><p>He was silent for a moment, before continuing.</p><p> </p><p>“I hate that you killed her.” He felt Elijah flinch at the frank statement. “But I can’t sat I wouldn’t have done the same.”</p><p> </p><p>Kol and Rebekah echoed the sentiment, grief and anger warring for dominance on their faces too as they surveyed the scene before them.</p><p> </p><p>Their mother had nearly torn them to pieces with her actions. Klaus was on the ground shaking for the pain of the curse their mother had cast on them, Elijah was staring emptily down at his bloody hands, and Azalea’s screams as her very soul was nearly torn asunder still echoed in their minds. No. They were not very sympathetic to their mother either.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus groaned, drawing everyone’s attention. Using her newfound speed, Rebekah appeared next to him and helped him stand up.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea, who had been strangely silent throughout the entire affair, let out a pained cry. The sibling’s attention snapped to her as her form began to flicker.</p><p> </p><p>Esther’s banishment.</p><p> </p><p>She wavered once more and vanished.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p>Azalea opened her eyes and screamed. She convulsed in her bed, scratching at her arms as Esther’s banishment fought with the bond pulling her to the past with Elijah. The offshoot of the bond - the one that lead to an unknown person - pulsed and started lending her strength.</p><p> </p><p>She vaguely heard people talking, their frantic voices adding to her panic. Magic tinged up her spine, and she struggled more. She heard a curse and a stronger surging of power.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea abruptly stopped moving.</p><p> </p><p>She tried to sit up, but her body would not respond, a magical paralysis stealing her autonomy.</p><p> </p><p>There were hands on her forehead, a gentle pulse of power.</p><p> </p><p>She faded into oblivion.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Their father had reappeared shortly after Azalea vanished, and immediately attacked them – well, attacked Klaus and then the rest of them when they refused to leave their brother to his death.</p><p> </p><p>Kol was not handling his freshly undead state well, and he knew it. Even Finn, who thought they were all cursed abominations, was having a better time than he. The other person who was having a particularly difficult time was Elijah.</p><p> </p><p>After Azalea had disappeared, he had shut down. The strain of becoming a vampire, killing his mother, and losing his bonded was almost too much for him to handle. He put on an excellent façade but couldn’t hide his pain from his own family. Finn was distracting himself from the horror of his existence by throwing himself into his family, trying to focus on the humanity he had lost. Rebekah seemingly took it in stride, but there were moments where it was obvious how much the immortality hurt her. She had wanted to grow old and raise a family with someone she loved, and now she would never have that. Klaus was an entirely different story. He took to his vampirism with aplomb, the intoxicating feeling of power and the rush of feeding distracting him from the gaping wound in his spirit where his bond with Tatia used to be.</p><p> </p><p>Bonds could not break upon death, but they would break upon a complete and total rejection from one party, and when they broke it profoundly changed the people involved. Klaus was not only living with the fact that he killed his wife, but with the knowledge that she had seen his new nature and rejected him completely.</p><p> </p><p>As for Kol? Well, there was a gaping cavity in his spirit where his connection to the earth used to be. His siblings felt the loss as well, but they had not known magic like he did. He, like Klaus, threw himself into his new existence to distract himself from the loss.</p><p> </p><p>Even with their own pain, they all helped each other as much as they could, recognizing that they were all that they had left. They had sworn an oath after all, all five of them.</p><p> </p><p>They all went out of their way to bond with their eldest brother as they hadn’t for much of their mortal life and tried to get Elijah to engage in a life greater than merely feeding and simply existing. Rebekah was warmer around her siblings, with them being part of the family she had yearned to create in life. Klaus found solace in his family, the people he knew wouldn’t reject him, the people he swore to himself to never truly harm, but when it got to be too much he lashed out and left carnage in his wake.</p><p> </p><p>Kol had yet to find a way to truly fill the emptiness inside. Giving into the base instincts of blood, violence, and lust was a good distraction, a fun one even, but it did not do anything to truly heal. Family helped. In fact, it was the only thing that gave meaning to his life, but it did not suffice completely. The pain was still there, and it looked like something he would have to live with.</p><p> </p><p>There was a rustle of wind, and Elijah appeared before him.</p><p> </p><p>“Kol – “</p><p> </p><p>There was a flash of azure light and, to his pleasant surprise, Azalea came tumbling to the ground.</p><p> </p><p>It had been half a year since they had seen her last.</p><p> </p><p>Kol listened to his brother and almost-sister reunite, their conversation flowing by him. He could feel the power in the air moments before she arrived, the raw emptiness inside of him easing a slightest bit.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea had healed him on numerous occasions in the past. When someone did the type of soul-deep healing that she had, they shared a piece of themselves with whomever they touched with their power, and those pieces lingered.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah blurred of to get the rest of the family; he did not know how much time she had here, but he wanted to make the most of it.</p><p> </p><p>She turned to him, a smile on her lips, before her face rapidly shifted to one of concern.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened?”</p><p> </p><p>Kol shrugged noncommittally saying,</p><p> </p><p>“It seems a consequence of vampirism is losing magic.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea was not fooled by his casual tone; she knew how much magic meant to him. Loosing connection to the earth was a wound of the soul, and those were much worse than damage to the body.</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, she had gained ungodly amounts of practice healing the soul. When she cared for them as humans, she did not merely heal their flesh wounds, no, she helped sooth the damage to their spirits as well. She couldn’t not, it was a side effect of her power. Azalea never went deeper than what her power required her to give though, not without consent.</p><p> </p><p>“Kol, take my hand.”</p><p> </p><p>“You do realize that you’re a spirit?”</p><p> </p><p>“Haha. Very funny. Take. My. Hand.”</p><p> </p><p>He placed his palm under her spectral one, her fingers slightly phasing into his. She spoke in an uncharacteristically formal tone.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you consent to giving me access to your connection to the earth?”</p><p> </p><p>He gave her a level stare before nodding silently.</p><p> </p><p>Permission acquired, Azalea pulled from deep within herself, the power that dwelled within her streaming into that empty spot where Kol once had magic. It was a bleeding wound, screaming for the connection it once housed. Her power flooded it, soothing and healing over the broken connection. She could not bring his magic back, no one could, but she could give him this.</p><p> </p><p>Kol took in an unnecessary breath, some previously unknown weight feeling like it had been lifted from his shoulders.</p><p> </p><p>She spoke thoughtfully,</p><p> </p><p>“If I understand correctly, vampires are still creatures of magic.”</p><p> </p><p>At his nod, she continued.</p><p> </p><p>“That means you can still channel power, right? Just from a different source.”</p><p> </p><p>Kol turned over her words in his mind, a feeling of hope igniting within him. A different source. He could find that. He would find that.</p><p> </p><p>He heard his siblings approaching them and stepped back to allow the reunion to happen.</p><p> </p><p>And a very joyous reunion it was.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was going to be a clusterfuck of epic proportions. But, between the brunet making cow eyes at Klaus, Lucian panting after her like a puppy, and Klaus, who was still trying to get past Tatia ignoring the little romantic sideshow, it was shaping up to be a very amusing one.</p><p> </p><p>They had met the two stars in that little performance when they had decided to fake being nobility after they arrived in southern France. Lucian, a servant, had seen the truth of them and begged them to spare his life in exchange for teaching them to blend into court. Aurora De Martel, the brunet with a crush, and her older brother – who was a complete ass, and coming from Kol, who was no moral paragon, that really meant something- Tristan De Martel.</p><p> </p><p>Kol’s opinion on the whole mess quickly changed when Lucian stabbed Klaus, apparently blaming him for Tristan catching him trying to get with Aurora and had gotten himself killed trying to go after Tristan after Klaus’s blood healed him from the beating-cum-torture session Tristan had administered him in punishment.</p><p> </p><p>Blood healing. It was good to know that they could do that.</p><p> </p><p>Kol scented his brother and was drawn out of his thoughts as he saw Elijah making his way out of the castle, a slight flicker of ethereal light by his side. He decided not to say anything to the rest of his siblings, the two deserved some time alone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>So, in addition to being able to share their vampirism they could compel as well.</p><p> </p><p>Kol’s prediction was right, it turned out to be a huge mess. Lucian was accidentally turned into a vampire – apparently, they could do <em>that</em> too – and after he had gained a suitable amount of control promptly turned Aurora as well.</p><p> </p><p>His eldest brother had gotten pissed at his and Klaus’s rather…indiscriminate behavior – they only drained ten people each, nothing to get concerned over - and would not let up about it. He would concede that they should have been more subtle, what with their father hunting them down</p><p> </p><p>Elijah had shown a previously unprecedented degree of ruthlessness by turning Tristan and then compelling him, Aurora, and Lucian to believe that they were himself, Rebekah, and Klaus. Kol knew he loved his brother for a reason.</p><p> </p><p>He was learning all sorts of fun things today.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Finn had met someone, a redhead by the name of Sage. She was a complete bore, but they all loved their eldest brother, so they made an effort to get along with her.</p><p> </p><p>If Kol was being completely honest with himself, the happiness on his brother’s face was worth having to suffer through Sage’s presence. It helped that Finn was less of a buzzkill, as Azalea would put it, while she was around.</p><p> </p><p>Besides, they had a complete bond. And none of them wanted another one of their brothers to suffer through the aftereffects of a broken one. It had been a hundred years since Tatia’s death and Klaus was still feeling it, with no signs of it fading.</p><p> </p><p>But, Kol digressed. Back to the present.</p><p> </p><p>They had received word of a little gang of vampire hunters – he loathed to admit it, but Finn was right, they should have been more subtle – and were going to infiltrate it. It was going quite well too, until Rebekah had the wonderful idea to fall in love with one of them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Rebekah was happy. Truly, honestly happy for the first time since she became a vampire.</p><p> </p><p>She had a fiancée whom she loved; she had her family beside her – even if one of them could only appear about once a decade. Things were looking up.</p><p> </p><p>There was a flash of pain in her chest, and she looked up to see her betrothed staring down at her, his fist clenched around the blade he had buried in her body.</p><p> </p><p>She collapsed upon the earth; a silver dagger coated in ash protruding from her heart.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Through the Centuries - Klaus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Azalea had some of the banishment laid on her by Esther figured out. From the words of the nurses, it was originally intended to banish her spirit to the afterlife, but since she died before she should complete the spell, it instead turned into a banishment curse focused on keeping Azalea in her own time – away from Esther’s children.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea felt the effects weakening as time went on. It was as if the spell could not truly attach itself to her for whatever reason. She could not go near her family as often as she used to, but she could travel to other places.</p><p> </p><p>So that’s what she did when she could muster the energy. Travel.</p><p> </p><p>It was a good distraction from that ever-increasing pain, at least.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus was not happy.</p><p> </p><p>After the De Martel affair they had fled to Italy.</p><p> </p><p>He had just finished slaughtering the Brotherhood for what they had done to himself and his siblings – for what they had done to Rebekah. He had told her that falling for a hunter was a terrible idea, all of them had, but she had refused to listen. He had seen how happy she was, and eventually decided to keep his council, urging his brothers to do the same. It was the first time she had been truly content since they had been turned and, for all his faults, he did want his sister to be happy. As it turns out, that had been a terrible idea.</p><p> </p><p>He removed the daggers from Rebekah, Kol, and Elijah, and now he was in front of Finn.</p><p> </p><p>He was… conflicted.</p><p> </p><p>These daggers were a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it meant that they had a vulnerability, a weakness. Even if the effects didn’t work on him, someone could use the dagger as leverage over him because he didn’t want them to be in anyone’s hands but his own. In his hands though, in his hands these daggers could keep his siblings where he wanted them to be.</p><p> </p><p>Finn. Finn who was rather peeved with him for the moment. Finn, who had Sage – whom he intended to marry, not that he had told anyone but he and Elijah – and she had been urging him to go off with her, to leave them. If he pulled that dagger out, Finn would leave, and Klaus did not want to lose his brother.</p><p> </p><p>But what <em>if</em> he left it in?</p><p> </p><p>If – when, he could not leave him daggered forever- he woke up, what would he do then?</p><p> </p><p>He hesitated for a moment more and pulled the blade from his brother’s chest.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Rebekah mourned her now dead betrothed's death deeply, despite his betrayal.</p><p> </p><p>She knew she should have realized sooner; he had acted suspiciously – asking questions about herself and her brothers, of her history, things of that nature - but she had ignored those warning signs because she loved him. And he had betrayed her.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah should have realized when a complete bond didn’t form between them in spite of her love for him that he was lying, but she had wanted to believe in it – in him - so badly that she ignored every warning sign.</p><p> </p><p>She went to the church where they had planned to marry and buried him with his sword, her siblings looking on.</p><p> </p><p>She mourned for what they had together, and what she had lost.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah would never let herself be so vulnerable again.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Klaus had not believed in the Hunter’s Curse, thinking it propaganda to scare vampires off, but it was all too real.</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus.”</p><p> </p><p>It was Finn, looking over him with a concerned expression.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus could see the blood he had shed in his footsteps, crimson blooming on everything he touched.</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus what is wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>He met the gaze of his elder brother, the whispers of the Five growing louder, threatening to drown out his words.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s nothing.”</p><p> </p><p>He could feel their hands grasping at him, could smell the scent of rot and decay.</p><p> </p><p>He was jolted out of it by Finn’s hand on his shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus. You have been like this for weeks. We are all worried for you. What happened?”</p><p> </p><p>The Curse rose again, specters of his past victims appearing around him.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus spoke.</p><p> </p><p>Finn listened to his brother’s disjointed words, his worry growing more intense as Klaus spoke.</p><p> </p><p>Through the years Klaus had been many things, impulsive and violent being a few of them, but he had never been so affected by anything before. The only time he had seen him so discomposed was in the aftermath of their mother and Tatia’s death all those years ago.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus closed his eyes, the hate filled words of the people he had killed echoing in his mind, leaned into his brother, and breathed.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Finn and Sage married in the late winter of 1167, three months after the Hunter’s Curse broke.</p><p> </p><p>The daggers had been a point of contention between all of the siblings, none of them wanted someone to have that kind of power over them, even if that person was their brother.</p><p> </p><p>It was Elijah, ever the peacemaker, that forced them to come to an accord. They would each carry one and keep them from others no matter the costs. What he also suggested was the creation of fakes. They had no idea who had created them, or even that they existed before their run in with the Brotherhood, so they needed to plan accordingly.</p><p> </p><p>Finn had mustered up the courage to ask Sage ten years into Klaus’s tenure under the Hunter’s curse. She had accepted, to absolutely no one’s surprise, and they had even planned the wedding to take place during one of Azalea’s decennial visits.</p><p> </p><p>To be perfectly frank, Klaus thought Sage was a manipulative bitch, but she was a manipulative bitch who made his brother happy, and that was all that mattered in the end.</p><p> </p><p>Sage had wanted to marry immediately, but Finn insisted that it happen only after Klaus was free on the Hunter’s Curse.</p><p> </p><p>They were once again impersonating nobles, this time in the Roman Empire,  but this ceremony was a private family affair, much like his marriage to Tatia</p><p> </p><p>No. He would not think of that right now. His chest ached in pain.</p><p> </p><p>He took a long draught of the alcohol in his hand and turned his attention back to the present.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah was all smiles and happiness, having helped plan the wedding with Sage, the two women finally finding common ground. Kol was, judging by the expression on Sage’s face, being annoying as per usual, though not as obnoxious as he could normally be.</p><p> </p><p>Finn had a slight smile on his normally stoic features, his happiness obvious to all with eyes to see.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was lingering off to the side conversing with Azalea who had appeared the previous day. She could only stay about one to two days at a time before the banishment took effect again and she was forced back into her body.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus could see the wistfulness on his brother’s face as he observed the festivities, obviously yearning for something that was currently impossible for him to have.</p><p> </p><p>And Klaus, he was happy for his brother, truly, but he couldn’t quite silence the voice telling him that Finn was going to leave, and that he would never come back.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>She looked just like Tatia.</p><p> </p><p>It was 1492. He, Rebekah, and Elijah were in England.</p><p> </p><p>Kol was off in Wales chasing rumors about Siphoners, some strange offshoot of witches. Finn and Sage were in Bulgaria, taking their once-every-century honeymoon together.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus could feel her eyes on him from across the room. He turned, capturing her gaze with his own.</p><p> </p><p>She lowered her eyes demurely and murmured the man standing next to her. He offered her his arm and escorted her across the room towards him.</p><p> </p><p>“Lord Niklaus, may I introduce Katerina Petrova.”</p><p> </p><p>Katerina was the next doppelganger. Her sacrifice could break his curse.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>He encouraged her attentions to him, seduced her, kept her close as he worked to gain the ingredients necessary to break the curse.</p><p> </p><p>At least, that’s what he told himself.</p><p> </p><p>Her similarity to Tatia did not end with appearance. She was much like her in personality as well, though she had a very cautious edge to her that Tatia unfortunately lacked.</p><p> </p><p>He didn’t know whether in was due to her nature as a doppelganger or if it was something else but that ever present emptiness where his bond to Tatia used to be eventually began to ease when she was around him, a new yearning urging him in her direction.</p><p> </p><p>She needed to die if he wanted freedom from his mother’s curse, but she was the first hint of relief he had tasted in half a millennium.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah had noted his preoccupation with Katerina and had procured an elixir with the properties of resuscitation, neatly solving his quandary.</p><p> </p><p>The other thing she shared with Tatia other than her appearance seemed to be her attraction to both him and thoroughly uninterested Elijah.</p><p> </p><p>He almost thought that she was playing with them, trying to set brother against brother.</p><p> </p><p>Not that it mattered if she was. He could address it after he broke his curse.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>She ran from him.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>She ran from him.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Katerina was an intelligent woman and had figured out that something was up and started pestering him about it. Klaus had, in a rare moment of honesty, told her about the curse and her role in it, as well as the elixir Elijah had provided him with.</p><p> </p><p>She had taken it well, much to Klaus's relief, promising to help him.</p><p> </p><p>The next day, she was gone.</p><p> </p><p>His affection for her had made him weak. It was a mistake that he would never repeat. Love beyond his family had no place in his life.</p><p> </p><p>That worm, Trevor who had been trying to get into Katerina’s skirts helped her run from him.</p><p> </p><p>He was going to make them regret the day they were born.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea cast her spirit from her body.</p><p> </p><p>God, it hurt so much. Even her spiritual form was beginning to be affected as well, the pain of the unfulfilled bond becoming soul deep. It only eased when was in contact with Elijah.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah. She could not even imagine how he must feel. At least on her side of things time passed faster. He actually had to live through a thousand years of this.</p><p> </p><p>For bonds to be complete, they had to come together in the same state of being. Problem was she could only meet him in the form of a spirit. The Elijah that was alive now – she’d figured out that offshoot of the bond had to be the current version of him once she realized that he was immortal – couldn’t meet her until she caught up to where he was.</p><p> </p><p>Her body was under a magical binding courtesy of the witches of the Anchorage so that she didn’t hurt herself or resist their efforts to heal her. She was supposed to be unconscious as well, but she didn’t think the witches realized that part of the spell didn’t take.</p><p> </p><p>So Azalea traveled and explored her abilities to distract herself from her less than desirable situation.</p><p> </p><p>She always ended up in the same era as the Elijah she knew. But she could wander the earth at her leisure if she didn’t wander too close to him. It took enough energy to get past Esther’s spell as often as she did, and the backlash when she got to her body was extreme to say in the least.</p><p> </p><p>So, she wandered and experimented with her abilities.</p><p> </p><p>She had a shield. It wasn’t a very substantial one, but it was protection none the less.</p><p> </p><p>The other thing, the more interesting thing, was her ability to shift things into the plane she inhabited as a spirit. She was alive, and yet her spirit could leave her body as if she were dead. As a living being with a soul untethered to her body, she had a foot in the world of the living, and the realm of the dead and could temporarily bring things into that state as well.</p><p> </p><p>She could only do it with small objects at the present and she had no idea of if she could do this to the living, dead, or undead.</p><p> </p><p>She felt the tell-tale tug in her chest and she was whisked through the currents of times, back to her body.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Through the Centuries - Rebekah</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rebekah and New Orleans. Azalea finds something very important.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Their father burned down Cadiz, Rebekah and Finn splitting of from their brothers in the chaos. Sage would have felt the danger Finn was in, so they did not have to track her down. She’d catch up later.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah followed after her brother as he led them through the chaos, trusting that the others would catch up when they could.</p><p> </p><p>They were headed away from the ocean when an idea struck her.</p><p> </p><p>“Finn.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“We need to get a boat.”</p><p> </p><p>Finn obviously understood where she was going with this because he turned and started blurring towards the port.</p><p> </p><p>Mikael had found them every time they settled down in Europe, perhaps they would have more luck in the New World.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Sage had found them before Elijah, Klaus, and Kol caught up, Rebekah rolling her eyes when they shared an embrace.</p><p> </p><p>They were so obnoxious.</p><p> </p><p>She could practically see the hearts and flowers blooming around them. At least Azalea and Elijah, the only other people who were as obviously, annoyingly in love as those two were subtle about it.</p><p> </p><p>Finn, Sage, and Rebekah quickly compelled the crew of the ship – wonderful, now they had some convenient snacks – and waited for the others to show.</p><p> </p><p>An hour later a disheveled Klaus and Elijah appeared, the latter holding Kol’s desiccated body, a dagger protruding from his chest. Rebekah rose a brow.</p><p> </p><p>“I thought we agreed to not use those.”</p><p> </p><p>“Kol decided that he’d rather stay and confront Father. Needs must, Rebekah.”</p><p> </p><p>At this statement, Elijah swept past her to stash Kol somewhere on the ship, Klaus following to take a sip from one of the crew members to help him heal after the confrontation with Mikael.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah didn’t know how she was going to survive being in such close quarters with her brother and least favorite sister-in-law - Rebekah could see the writing on the wall, she knew what Elijah had been contemplating ever since Finn’s wedding - for however long they were going to be on this godforsaken ship.</p><p> </p><p>A thought occurred to her and she nearly groaned.</p><p> </p><p>Kol was going to be insufferable when he woke up.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>‘I was right’</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Rebekah watched Kol tear into his fifth crew member that night.</p><p> </p><p>‘<em>He is insufferable.’</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>“KOL”</p><p> </p><p>“<em>What</em>, sister.”</p><p> </p><p>“We only have so many of them, don’t kill them all.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, don’t act like you’ve never indulged yourself before.”</p><p> </p><p>“But <em>I</em> have never killed our only means of transport while doing so.” Kol rolled his eyes and turned back to the begging man who he was holding, and Rebekah spoke again.</p><p> </p><p>“Look, I know you’re angry with Klaus and Elijah-.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really? How astute of you Rebekah.”</p><p> </p><p>“But we are going to be stuck on this ship for the next month, and I don’t want to listen to you baiting each other. Go talk to them.”</p><p> </p><p>“We swore to never use those Rebekah. Klaus, I’m not surprised about, but Elijah? The only thing more surprising would be if Finn had helped.”</p><p> </p><p>Personally, Rebekah was not the least bit surprised. She knew that Elijah would do whatever it took to get himself and the rest of them to Azalea’s time alive. He had proven on numerous times in the past to be absolutely ruthless in pursuit of their safety, so she was not exactly shocked that he had daggered Kol when he decided to be an idiot and nearly get them all killed.</p><p> </p><p>Over 700 years of suffering through the pain of an incomplete bond had not done him any favors. And to have relief, only for Azalea to constantly disappear due to the actions of the mother that he had killed? No. It had not done him any favors at all.</p><p> </p><p>Interestingly enough, she would say that out of all her brothers Elijah was the most unstable. Most would say Klaus or Kol or even herself due to their unrestrained, unpredictable natures, and they would be wrong.</p><p> </p><p>People usually let Elijah’s calm, gentlemanly demeanor fool them into thinking he was less of a threat that herself and her more unrestrained siblings, but he felt the same violent, bloodthirsty urges they did, only he restrained them. And when it got to be too much and he lashed out, as he inevitably did, he could - and had- put every one of them to shame.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah could not wait until they got to Azalea’s time and found her. She missed her almost-sister, and she did not like to see her brother in so much pain.</p><p> </p><p>“Kol, you know how Elijah is about…well,<em> everything</em>. Go talk to him.”</p><p> </p><p>Kol scoffed and dumped the terrified crew member onto the deck.</p><p> </p><p>“Only because you asked so nicely, Rebekah.”</p><p> </p><p>Reluctantly, Kol blurred away to find Elijah.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next month was rather tense, but not a bad as it could have been.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah didn’t know what Elijah had said to Kol but after they had their conversation, there was a quiet understanding between the two that was previously nonexistent.</p><p> </p><p>If she had to guess, she would say that Elijah had confided in him about that pain he was constantly feeling. Elijah had always been close to all of them, they never had any reason to doubt of his love for them, but as a human he had been closest to Klaus and as a vampire he had drawn nearest to Finn – and those were the two that he confided with as well. Rebekah thought that it was because she and Kol were the youngest and Elijah had never quite grown out of the urge to protect them because of it.</p><p> </p><p>Kol and Klaus had spent about a week passively aggressively bitching at each other – they couldn’t settle their issues in their normal way, fighting, because they would break the ship – until she, Elijah, Finn, and Sage got sick of it and had an impromptu intervention on the main deck where they forced them to actually talk about and resolve their issues.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah had not expected their intervention to be successful, but miracle of miracles, it worked. Klaus had managed to force out something in the realm of an apology and Kol had made some sarcastic comment in return, which was forgiveness by his standards.</p><p> </p><p>They were due to make land in three days, thank God. Rebekah did not know if she could handle much more of this before she threw someone into the ocean.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>They landed in a fledgling penal French Colony named New Orleans. It was situated on the banks of the Mississippi River, and was hot, humid, and a massive step down from what they had become accustomed to.</p><p> </p><p>Despite this, it reminded Rebekah of home. Her real home, back before all this had started, back when she was human.</p><p> </p><p>She fell in love with the place. They all did.</p><p> </p><p>So, they helped build and made their city prosperous.</p><p> </p><p>If they did this right, then this place could become the first home they had since they were human.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were residing in the plantation of the governor of New Orleans.</p><p> </p><p>He was a sniveling, power-hungry man in Rebekah’s opinion, allowing them to feed of his citizen’s if they paid him large amounts of gold. Not that she was unhappy with that – she rather enjoyed having easy pickings.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah rather liked his son, Emil Gerard, and quickly took him to be her lover. She knew that she gave away her heart too quickly, and that her brother’s had become <em>very</em> overprotective of her suiters because of that, the ones that hurt her or that they found unworthy often dying at their hands – yes, even Finn’s.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah felt no bond to him, but that did not mean she couldn’t be with, even fall in love with a person she felt no connection to. It just meant that the likelihood of that relationship becoming permanent was very low.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah wasn’t looking for someone to spend eternity with, she was looking for someone she could love, but ultimately let go. After Alexander – her Hunter fiancée – Rebekah had deliberately avoided pursuing bonds, not wanting a repeat performance of the first time. They were going to complete theirs upon their marriage, and when Alexander had betrayed her, it had shattered to pieces. After she had buried him, Rebekah had resolved to never put herself in that position a second time.</p><p> </p><p>A bond required an open heart and a willingness to bear your soul and she would never let herself be that vulnerable again. She had been that naive once, and payed the price for it.</p><p> </p><p>Once was enough.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus killed Emil. She was hurt, but not surprised.</p><p> </p><p>She had asked for his and Elijah’s blessing to turn him, if Klaus and Elijah approved then Kol and Finn would go along with it, and Elijah had asked her to rethink her decision on the basis that it might cause problems with the governor.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus made some comment on her rather unfortunate love life – as if he hadn’t killed a third of them himself – and Emil, the noble idiot, had challenged him to a duel.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus tossed him off the balcony.</p><p> </p><p>So much for not angering the governor.</p><p> </p><p>They were at Emil’s funeral.</p><p> </p><p>There was a movement, and Rebekah watched as Klaus approached a slave boy who was being whipped by a plantation master.</p><p> </p><p>She put it out of her mind, and turned her mind back to her lover’s funeral</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus had adopted the boy, naming him Marcellus.</p><p> </p><p>She had never seen her brother act this way towards someone who wasn’t related to him. He almost treated him like he did Henrik.</p><p> </p><p>“Penny for your thoughts?”</p><p> </p><p>She smiled, drawn out of her reverie by a familiar echoing voice.</p><p> </p><p>“Azalea. How long can you stay?”</p><p> </p><p>“I think I can manage three days this time.” She jutted her chin towards the scene before them. “Who’s that?”</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus decided that he wanted to be a father.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea blinked, bewildered. She couldn’t have heard that right.</p><p> </p><p>“We are talking about the same Klaus, right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Do you know any other immortals named Klaus?”</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus adopted someone. Dramatic, violent, ‘I feel no love’ Klaus adopted someone?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wow.” Azalea was silent for another moment. “What’s he like?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know, I haven’t talked to him yet. All I know is that Klaus named him Marcellus.”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah led Azalea over to a stone bench to catch up. She had not seen her in thirty years, her previous three visits having been hogged by her brothers. Their conversation continued for a few hours, Azalea speaking of what she had seen and learned in her travels, Rebekah relating what had happened in the previous decade or so.</p><p> </p><p>They reached a lull in their conversation, Azalea fidgeting slightly on the bench.</p><p> </p><p>“So…”</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah’s in the library.”</p><p> </p><p>Her cheeks flushed a slightly deeper blue.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, Rebekah.”</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Rebekah didn’t spend to much time around her brother’s ward until he was older and she started teaching him how to fence. That was when things began to change.</p><p> </p><p>She became close to him.  First as a friend and confidant, Marcel telling her of his issues with Klaus’s ruthless, amoral actions, and eventually he began to make overtures that he was interested in more.</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah knew that Klaus would not approve. She didn’t even know if she could count on her other brothers to take her side of things. Elijah, one of the only people Klaus would actually listen to, held himself firmly neutral in family spats, Finn would be too distrustful of Marcel to take her side as he had been <em>very </em>wary of her suitors ever since her first disastrous engagement. Kol was too preoccupied with the witches of the city to involve himself, and even if he wasn’t he probably wouldn’t care.</p><p> </p><p>Marcel was a person she could see herself coming to love, but she did not know if he was a person that she could lose. He was… kind. Courageous. Innocent. All qualities that she found herself wanting to bolster, to protect. He almost made her want to open herself to the possibility of spending eternity with another once more.</p><p> </p><p>To even consider entering into a relationship with Marcel was a terrible idea for many reasons.</p><p> </p><p>Ever a slave to her heart, she fell.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea knew that Kol was still looking into alternatives for magic, so she decided to do a little research of her own. From her talks with Kol, she knew that there were two sub-cultures of magic, Travelers and Siphoners. Azalea knew that Travelers focused on dark magic and possession, so she was not touching that. It was the Siphoners who caught her interest. They had the potential to become witch-vampire hybrids, due to the nature of their power. These people might hold the answers Kol was looking for.</p><p> </p><p>Now, with the Mikaelson’s migration to the New World, Azalea was bound to follow as well. Her connection to Elijah was what allowed her to travel to the past, and though she did not have the strength to go near him, not yet, she still had to stay within a certain distance of them if she didn’t want to be pushed back into her body.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea was drawn back to the place where all of this had started, now called Mystic Falls. The distance between Louisiana and Virginia was pushing it, but she could do it.</p><p> </p><p>Mystic Falls was a seemingly idyllic, quiet place. Looks were deceiving however, because it was rife with supernatural creatures. Witches, vampires, even werewolves – looks like Mikael missed a few.</p><p> </p><p>The most alarming thing, however, was the enormous White Oak Tree that had sprouted from the ashes of the last.</p><p> </p><p>This was bad. This was the only thing that could kill her family. They had burned it down shortly after Esther’s death, but if they did that again, who knows what nature’s response to that would be.</p><p> </p><p>There had to be some other way to get rid of it. To keep it still alive, but virtually inaccessible.</p><p> </p><p>Along as the White Oak existed, nature would not compensate for it by creating a new one. It was the natural order of things that all being had a mortal flaw, but there were loopholes in every rule if you could find them.</p><p> </p><p>So caught up in her thoughts, Azalea failed to notice the magic surging around her, and was caught completely off guard when a net of pure power dropped around her, immobilizing her where she stood.</p><p> </p><p>She had just enough time to push her fear and panic through her bond, before the net glowed brightly, and a shock of power flooded her system, making everything go black.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Through the Centuries - Finn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Trouble brews in New Orleans.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Finn organized his now immortal life into three sections: When he was human, before Sage, and after Sage.</p><p> </p><p>Sage. She had changed everything.</p><p> </p><p>She was vivacious, possessing a love for life that deserted him upon his eldest sister’s death. Before her, he had been lost, almost suicidal, not wanting to live for eternity as an abomination.</p><p> </p><p>She had breathed color into his monochrome existence, had given him a something that even his siblings – as much as he loved them - could never have.</p><p> </p><p>He valued his relationship with her all the more given his siblings less than perfect romantic history. Kol was quite content being an eternal bachelor, most of Rebekah’s lovers ended up dying, and the less said about Klaus the better.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was the only other who had any luck, but his current situation with Azalea was painful to say the least. Separation from the one you loved the most was not a situation he would wish on anyone but his most despicable of enemies.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Sage and Rebekah were shopping together, Finn being dragged along as their pack mule of choice for today.</p><p> </p><p>He loved his wife and sister dearly, and as glad that they were – finally- getting along, but he would rather be anywhere but here.</p><p> </p><p>Yes, he had vampiric speed and stamina, but that didn’t mean having to carry every single ting they bought was his idea of an engaging pastime. Rebekah was a strong as he was and Sage was an ancient vampire, they were both perfectly capable of carrying their own things.</p><p> </p><p>Finn was tempted to roll his eyes, but he was more mature than that.</p><p> </p><p>Regardless, he could see the lightness on Rebekah’s face, and feel Sage’s happiness as if it were his own so, it was not as bad as he was making it out to be.</p><p> </p><p>Finn stopped, watching as they laughed and chatted together, basking in the crisp air of the morning, his lips lifting in a nearly invisible expression of happiness. Sage turned back to him, flashing him an alluring smile, her love for him clearly visible on her elegant features.</p><p> </p><p>He followed the two, ignoring the amused gaze off the shopkeeper and set aside his annoyance, deciding to bask in the joy of his loved ones.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Finn watched as Rebekah sped off, presumably to meet her lover, Marcel. Yes, he knew about it, and he was reasonably certain Elijah had noticed too. Rebekah was not as subtle as she thought she was.</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, Klaus was still oblivious to it, and Kol was not around enough to take note, not that he would care even if he had.</p><p> </p><p>And speaking of Kol…</p><p> </p><p>His younger brother burst into the room, looking uncharacteristically serious.</p><p> </p><p>“Finn, come with me. We have a problem.”</p><p> </p><p>Without turning to see if Finn was following, Kol blurred off towards the witches territory of the city.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>He and Kol were approaching the mansion when they heard Rebekah and Klaus shouting at each other, followed shortly by a crash.                                           </p><p> </p><p>They did not need this right now. They had bigger issues.</p><p> </p><p>They exchanged a glance, and blurred into vampire speed, dropping any pretense of being human.</p><p> </p><p>Finn took in the scene before them. There was a broken window along with a desk in splinters and glass shards scattered across the floor, Elijah was restraining Klaus and Rebekah was standing protectively in front of a fearful but resolute Marcel, glaring at her older brother, her vampiric face coming forth in her rage.</p><p> </p><p>Looking closer at the two, he realized why. Rebekah had turned Marcel. He had not thought their relationship was that serious.</p><p> </p><p>After a moment he decided to be happy for his sister. He knew how much Alexander’s betrayal had hurt her, and Klaus honestly needed to learn that he could not throw a tantrum every time one of them did something he did not want them to do.</p><p> </p><p>He had always had control issues, even as a human.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus surged against Elijah, almost breaking his grip, until Kol sped forward to help Elijah restrain him.</p><p> </p><p>“What is going on here?”</p><p> </p><p>His voice boomed across the room, making his siblings freeze. Finn so rarely raised his voice, or emoted at all, but when he did people – especially his siblings – stopped and listened.</p><p> </p><p>“Rebekah went against my -”</p><p> </p><p>“Shut it Nik, we have more important things to worry about.”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus yanked himself from his brothers’ grasps and turned, intending to take his anger out on Kol before he froze at his next words.</p><p> </p><p>“The Witches. They’re rebelling.”</p><p> </p><p>Whatever Klaus was going to say in response was cut of by the sound of Elijah staggering back, letting out a nearly silent cry of anguish, a pained expression on his face as his hand moved to rest over his chest.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Elijah was on a warpath.</p><p> </p><p>They had quickly figured out that the rebelling witches and Azalea’s distress could not have been a coincidence, and when Kol had brought in a witch that was against them, they were proven right.</p><p> </p><p>Finn had forgotten how brutal his noblest brother could be when properly motivated, and if he were not utterly furious himself, he would pity the wailing witch Elijah was currently interrogating.</p><p> </p><p>Over the years, New Orleans had become the central hub for supernatural beings of the New World. Whomever controlled the city, was essentially the ruler of all those beings. Or as close as a ruler as magical beings could get. There was a conspiracy to kill himself, Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol – apparently, the White Oak had regrown – and desiccate Klaus, taking the throne of the city for themselves.</p><p> </p><p>The man screamed again – Elijah had just removed another fingernail.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know anything else! There was this strange spirit, she -”</p><p> </p><p>His brother blurred out of the room, the witches heart falling beside the bloody corpse.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kol, Rebekah, and Sage were staying to quell the situation in the city.</p><p> </p><p>He, Elijah, and Klaus were going to what was now Mystic Falls to take care of the White Oak and help Azalea. They opted out of taking a horse or carriage, instead deciding to run to make the best time.</p><p> </p><p>But speed was of essence here, for Elijah – and therefore Azalea’s situation – was growing worse by the second.</p><p> </p><p>Between Klaus’s residual anger over Rebekah making him even more wrathful, Elijah’s silent fury and fear, and his own unhappy feelings over the entire situation, it was a very tense trip.</p><p> </p><p>They made it too their former home in record time, only stopping to feed and avoid exposing themselves to humans.</p><p> </p><p>They entered Mystic Falls proper and the hunt was on.</p><p> </p><p>The witch that Elijah tortured information out of revealed that his coven leader had married in from another magical family that had moved into Mystic Falls only a few generations back.</p><p> </p><p>Finn was the best tracker out of all of them, always had been even as a human, so he led the way. His rarely heeded vampiric instincts were on overdrive reacting to his rage and uncertainty, and he was planning on indulging himself.</p><p> </p><p>No one harmed his family and lived. No one.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea didn’t know how much time had passed in her magical prison. She could still hear things, dimly, but other then that she was frozen in stasis. The banishment Esther had forced on her was picking up again, trying to whisk her back to her body, and she focused her energy on fighting the pull.</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, the grating pull from the part of the bond connected to the Elijah of the future had dimmed some, helping her resist the banishing magic further. She didn't know what future Elijah had done, but she was happy he had done it.</p><p> </p><p>She could not leave until she told them of the White Oak. There had to be a way to be rid of it permanently.</p><p> </p><p>She heard a sudden commotion, and her attention was turned to the sounds making it through her prison. There was screaming and shouting, the desperate cries of men and woman fighting for their lives.</p><p> </p><p>Hope rose within her.</p><p> </p><p>There was the sickening sound of flesh being separated from flesh, and the cries silenced.</p><p> </p><p>Her prison shuddered and fell, revealing a bloodstained Elijah gazing down at her.</p><p> </p><p>Relief swept over his features, and his name tumbled from her lips. He reached for her, his hands brushing her and tingles of energy rushing between them at the contact.</p><p> </p><p>“Azalea...”</p><p> </p><p>God, she wished she could touch him for real. She could see the same yearning reflected his eyes. She saw it every time she came to him.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s all right, you got to me before anything happened.”</p><p> </p><p>“What am I, chopped liver?”</p><p> </p><p>She and Elijah separated; moment broken by Klaus’s comment.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know Klaus, I can kind of see the resemblance.”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus mock scowled at her retort, the worry in his eyes beginning to fade. Azalea turned to Finn and gave him a thankful smile, the ancient vampire gracing her with a nod in return. Both brothers had bloody, torn clothing like Elijah – even Finn, the least violent, had more than his fair share. Looking around, she noticed the corpses littering the clearing, and felt a pang of guilt.</p><p> </p><p>She pushed it away. She had chosen this, there was no turning back.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea turned back to the White Oak, the brothers following her gaze.</p><p> </p><p>The White Oak. An immortal, living object intrinsically linked with death. </p><p> </p><p>Just like her.</p><p> </p><p>That meant it could exist upon the same plane as her. Permanently.</p><p> </p><p>Ignoring Elijah’s protests, she struggled to her feet and approached the ancient tree and reached into the wellspring of her power despite her diminished state. She laid her hands upon the wood, palms laying atop of it instead of sinking through as was the norm. She could not destroy it, but she could <em>shift</em> it.</p><p> </p><p>The Oak began to glow with blue energy, its intrinsic power fighting her own. This was the first time Azalea had ever tried shifting something so large, much less something so powerful, but she had to do it. For them.</p><p> </p><p>She pushed harder, scraping the bottom of her reserves for magic. She battled the Oak's resistance, and reached further beyond her reserves of power, into her life-force. Power flooded into her veins intoxicating and agonizing at the same time. Desperately hoping that it would work, Azalea imprinted her ability to exist on the plane between life and death, to shield herself and disappear into the ancient tree.</p><p> </p><p>The White Oak slowly turned spectral, and then vanished, invisible to the naked eye.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea collapsed upon the earth, her spirit aching with the overuse of energy. She didn't think she'd ever be able to do something that big ever again. In spite of the backlash she felt victorious. Finally, she had protected the people she loved so as she had never been able to before.</p><p> </p><p>She turned back to the stunned trio of vampires, a brilliant grin alighting her face.</p><p> </p><p>Then she felt the pull of the banishment.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea had only been able to resist it for as long as she had because Esther had died in the middle of casting it. She could resist it, keep the spell at bay, if she kept her strength up.</p><p> </p><p>Weakened as she was, she could no longer fight it.</p><p> </p><p>Wind picked up around her, and flashes of ancient magic began to light up her spectral form from within. Agony shot through her body as her spirit began to destabilize, and she turned to her family trying desperately to tell them something, anything to help them find her in the future. As she tried to speak, she felt the noose choking off her voice loosen slightly.</p><p> </p><p>The magical geas constraining her had weakened slightly with the completion of Esther’s spell. Azalea forced herself to speak through it.</p><p> </p><p>“2010! I’m in a witch hospital -”</p><p> </p><p>The light grew brighter, blinding them, and she vanished with a cry of pain.</p><p> </p><p>The brothers darted forwards, searching in vain for a sign of her.</p><p> </p><p>It was the last they would see her for over a century and a half.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>The rebellion ended quickly in the wake of Azalea’s permanent exile from the past.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah’s reaction had been violent, to say the least. He had once again shut down, his face not twitching from its emotionless mien and proceeded methodically to slaughter every still living person involved with Azalea’s capture with ruthless – and occasionally, sadistic - efficiency, and compelled any knowledge of Azalea from every being, human to vampire, in Mystic Falls that had come into contact with her.</p><p> </p><p>They had returned to New Orleans post haste, and with their arrival the already loosing rebellious witches had been utterly crushed.</p><p>                                                                                                                                         </p><p>Their enemies were dead. The White Oak was obsolete. They were victorious.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea was gone. His brother was desolate.</p><p> </p><p>It was a hollow victory.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea awoke in her magically paralyzed body, the price of her actions coursing through her creating a fiery pain that coursed throughout her body. </p><p> </p><p>It hurt so much - it was radiating through her entire body in pulses in time with her heartbeat.</p><p> </p><p>She heard someone enter the room, and the restricting magic on her intensified.</p><p> </p><p>She could barely breathe, the binding magic so complete, the backlash so intense.</p><p> </p><p>She had to trust in them, trust in him.</p><p> </p><p>She held fast to her hopes and endured.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Through the Centuries - Elijah</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Leaving New Orleans. Elijah runs into someone important.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elijah’s walk through the centuries had been more of a test of endurance than anything else.</p><p> </p><p>He had come out of the terrible initial years with three goals in his life – or unlife, as it was.</p><p> </p><p>Push past the pain, focus on his brothers and sister, and strive towards the future.</p><p> </p><p>He would find her. He just had to take the long way.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>He had withdrawn form his siblings in the wake of Azalea’s permanent banishment. Their once vivid bond was now a dull, empty thing, with only enough vibrancy to show that she was still alive, wherever – no, whenever she was.</p><p> </p><p>He was initially pulled out of it by Klaus, his brother speaking of uniting New Orleans and making it a safe haven for all of them. A true home to call their own.</p><p> </p><p>A place of safety. He wanted that for them. For her. So, he had thrown himself into that cause, the distraction pulling him out of his withdrawn state.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, it seemed that rebellion they had put down was not quite the end of their problems.</p><p> </p><p>To Kol’s immense displeasure, a new witch had arrived, drawn to the city by the new power vacuum. Alphonz Delgallo, better known as Papa Tunde, and had promptly taken control of the French Quarter Coven, slaughtering any who stood in his way.</p><p> </p><p>If the warlock had not been a threat to his family, he would have been impressed with his ability to consolidate power so quickly.</p><p> </p><p>Tunde made his debut with his twin sons while himself and Niklaus were discussing a deal with the Guerrera Werewolf Family, offering the head of the Mayor as proof of his perceived ‘Kingship’.</p><p> </p><p>War erupted once more, with the French Quarter Coven fighting every other faction in the city.</p><p> </p><p>A small oft-ignored part of him was grateful for the renewed conflict. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but the violence, the thrill of crushing his enemies was almost <em>liberating</em>. It was in this that he felt closest to Niklaus. They both had felt – were feeling- a similar type of pain, and like his brother Elijah sometimes wanted to take it out on the world around him.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah knew that feeling was not particularly noble or moral, but for better or worse, it was part of him.</p><p> </p><p>Niklaus had discerned the source of Tunde’s power. He channeled from his sons. Nilkaus had killed them after a short struggle – they were well-trained - and returned to the compound with their heads in a box. Elijah brought that box along to the truce talk he had managed to organize with the warlock. He knew that the man would never concede to their terms, so it was important to have some extra leverage.</p><p> </p><p>When negotiations had broken down, as he knew they would, he had given his opponent the aforementioned box, and tore Tunde’s heart out as he surveyed his dead progeny.</p><p> </p><p>With that, the war was won.</p><p> </p><p>But even centuries later, after all the fighting and strife, there were still witches displeased with their occupation of the city and the deaths of their ancestors. Wanting revenge, they had lured in Mikael.</p><p> </p><p>Now, New Orleans was in flames.</p><p>                                                    </p><p>They ran.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Rebekah was inconsolable after the loss of New Orleans.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus had – eventually, after much cajoling - given his blessing to Rebekah and Marcel, valuing his sister’s love more than his desire for control. Especially after she had given him an ultimatum. If he did not accept it, if he daggered her or attempted to drive them apart, then she would leave. Forever.</p><p> </p><p>There had been some brief drama with Marcel going away to fight in the World War, desiring to get away from his adopted father for a time, Rebekah not wanting him to leave. But, overall, it went well for them.</p><p> </p><p>They had lost track of Marcel in the carnage and were eventually forced to accept that he was dead.</p><p> </p><p>The couple had been happy together, at least until New Orleans was set aflame. The whole family grieved for him, having loved him like he was theirs by blood, but Klaus and Rebekah had taken it the worst.</p><p> </p><p>Now, after the destruction of their home, they scattered.</p><p> </p><p>Finn and Sage to the East Coast, Rebekah and Klaus north, and he himself wandered with Kol gathering allies with various witches and magical beings in preparation for the future.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was near the end of 2008.</p><p> </p><p>Two more years.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was in Virginia. He was taking a short sabbatical from his family – they had reunited after Mikael ran afoul of a witch and was desiccated and sealed in a coffin for his troubles. He loved them, but having Rebekah, Klaus, Kol, and Sage under one roof could be extremely trying at times.</p><p> </p><p>He would feel guilt for abandoning Finn to their tender mercies if his eldest brother hadn’t done the same to him on numerous occasions.</p><p> </p><p>He was in a bustling city, making his way back to his hotel, when he heard a quiet groan from an alleyway. Curious, he followed the sound. It had been so quiet that he wouldn’t have heard it if he weren’t what he was.</p><p> </p><p>His chest pulsed with that ever-present pain.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah entered the ally, to see a woman with auburn hair crumpled in a heap onto the ground. Her heartbeat was slow, almost to the point of unconsciousness. Her kneeled beside the woman and reached out a hand to see if he could rouse her. His hand brushed her bare arm.</p><p> </p><p>For the first time on over a century and a half, the bond surged, and the world clicked into place.</p><p> </p><p> <em>Azalea.</em> He had found her.</p><p> </p><p>Dread rising in his chest, he checked her over this time with more care and urgency.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea had confided in him her amnesia, and he knew that something happened to her shortly before she was drawn to the past. He knew what she had went through couldn't have been anything good, but for her to be abandoned in an alley way for anyone to come across... He pushed down his rising anger and focused on checking her over.</p><p> </p><p>He found nothing wrong. She appeared to be in a perfectly healthy, if unconscious, state. The only odd thing was the slight tingle of magic that he could perceive around her.</p><p> </p><p>He pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance.</p><p> </p><p>He could not stay, could not even contact her, not yet. The most he could do was ensure that she was protected and well cared for.</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, he would be able to discern where she was in the timeline from their bond.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah remained by her side until he heard the ambulance approaching, and then reluctantly ducked out of the ally, remaining nearby but out of sight but close enough to interfere if necessary, until he saw the ambulance leave, Azalea in tow.</p><p> </p><p>First, he had to gain responsibility over her medical care so he could move her to a facility that was better equipped to protect her and care for supernatural maladies.</p><p> </p><p>He headed to the nearest circuit court.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>After Elijah acquired responsibility over Azalea’s medical needs - just had to compel a clerk and a priest - he had arranged for her to be transferred to the Coterie Anchorage, one of the few competent witch-run hospitals in the world, and had, upon their hesitance to take a woman so closely associated with his family in, impressed upon them the necessity of doing their utmost to ensure Azalea’s health and safety.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea’s care secured with a magically binding oath, he returned to his family.</p><p> </p><p>“Why, Elijah you’re back early. I’d thought you- “</p><p> </p><p>“I found her.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>A week later he felt the first tug. The bond had split into three, with once stand being stronger than the other two. One half for Azalea, and the other half split between his past and present.</p><p> </p><p>That meant his younger self had come to his senses and given up on Tatia. In retrospect, Tatia had been quite manipulative – she had egged on his and Klaus’s pursuit of her for her own amusement, much like Katerina had attempted. Though unlike her successor, Tatia had truly fallen for his brother in the end.</p><p> </p><p>Katerina. She had been beautiful yes, and with a personality that almost matched it, but even at her best she had been incredibly self-serving. Elijah knew himself well enough to know that if he were not already happily attached to another, he would have pursued her alongside Niklaus, and she would have played both of them like a fiddle. Fortunately, he had Azalea, and his distance from Katerina had provided insight to her character that his brother had been blind to.</p><p> </p><p>He had tried to warn him off her, but Niklaus would have none of it. Elijah had even procured that resurrective elixir for her, in hopes that she would not prove his suspicions about her character right and break his brother’s heart.</p><p> </p><p>Katerina may not have succeeded in driving a wedge between him and Niklaus, but she had hurt his brother deeply – even if he would never admit it – and for that, she and those who aided her must pay. Preferably, in their own blood.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p>                                                 </p><p> </p><p>In an uncharacteristic loss of composure, Elijah accidentally broke to arm rests on the chair he was sitting in. Rebekah looked from her book up with an annoyed look on her face and opened her mouth to comment but cut herself off when she saw to look on his face.</p><p> </p><p>Esther had just banished Azalea.</p><p> </p><p>He felt it in the pain radiating from her half of the bond.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah ignored Rebekah’s worried look and concentrated inwards, trying to bolster his love’s strength.</p><p> </p><p>He had never realized how much that had hurt her until now.</p><p> </p><p>The sensation suddenly cut off. That meant his younger self had just killed Esther.</p><p> </p><p>Out of all the terrible acts he had committed in his long life, killing his mother was the one he still felt the most conflict over.</p><p> </p><p>Esther had wronged them all greatly. It was not the transition that was the root of his anger with her, or even her curse upon Niklaus – though he was infuriated by it. No, it was her treatment of all of them when their father had turned his anger to include all his children. She never stepped in, or tried to make Mikael stop, not unless one of them went to her to beg for interference. And Father would have listened, for Mother had always been the only one who could calm his wrath.</p><p> </p><p>Despite all of that, she was his mother, the woman who had cared for him and his siblings and loved them dearly. And Elijah could not help but love her in return.</p><p> </p><p>When he saw her attempt to banish Azalea, he had acted without thinking.</p><p> </p><p>He still felt guilt over what he had done but no regret. Esther had tried to kill his bond-mate. He would do it again in one of her heartbeats.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Elijah could feel the bond stretch back and forth between modern day and the past.</p><p> </p><p>It tugged painfully in his chest when Azalea was pulled back to the now and dimmed alarmingly when she was catapulted back into history. He hated that she had to go through this alone. Yes, she had his younger self, but she couldn’t stay with him for more than a handful of days at a time. Even then, each of those visits had been fraught with pain for the both of them. Their bond only eased when they touched each other as much as they were able, unable to truly complete because she was a spirit and he was not. Each reunion had been colored by the fact that their separation was imminent one more.</p><p> </p><p>Throughout all this his siblings had been invaluable, each in their own unique way, even Sage once she realized his situation.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was well aware that he had not coped well in the beginning, particularly in those first six months when he thought that he would have to wait centuries before attempting to find Azalea again.</p><p> </p><p>Finn had offered him silent support, simply being with him when it began to overwhelm him. Niklaus had offered him empathy and understanding – something most would not expect coming from one of his more psychopathic brothers – his broken bond with Tatia providing a soul deep understanding that the rest of his family lacked. Kol – after their discussion on the ship after his daggering all those years ago – had pushed for his covens to research healing in tandem with developing mundane science, his actions providing the groundwork for the magical hospitals of the modern time. Rebekah had simply spent time with him, urging him to do more than simply exist during the periods of peace in their lives. Sage had surprised him, she hadn’t spoken to him about it directly, but had begun amassing a collection of objects from each area they went to – eventually enlisting Rebekah in her efforts – making a sort of century spanning  menagerie of memories that she informed him so share with Azalea once he had found her.</p><p> </p><p>Even in the midst of the pain he knew he was truly blessed by whatever higher power existed to have such a family.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was near the end of 2009.</p><p> </p><p>The ever-present pull towards Azalea was increasing in pain. Esther’s banishing magic was surging once more, and he had felt Azalea’s terror broadcasted though the bond. She had just been captured. It had taken them a week to find and her in the past. That meant one more week until he could <em>finally </em>go to her at most- he was so close. He wanted to stay near to her, but the closer he was without fulfilling their bond, the more the pull to the present – and thus, the pain - increased. </p><p> </p><p>Supernaturally still, he was staring out of a window up at the bright afternoon sky, desire to stay close to his mate warring with his need to protect her from the effects of the unfulfilled bond.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah”</p><p> </p><p>He turned to see Finn staring at him solemnly, the rest of the family behind him. Their concern for both him and Azalea obvious in their countenances. </p><p> </p><p>“Go. We will look after her in your stead.”</p><p> </p><p>He went. The further away he was from Azalea, the less the bond would hurt.</p><p> </p><p>One more week.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Azalea floated into consciousness to the sound of a commotion coming from the hallway. She heard the door to her room open.</p><p> </p><p>The ever-present tugging in her chest began to increase from painful to agonizing. It was so <em>close...</em></p><p> </p><p>“Lift the binding.”</p><p> </p><p>She knew that voice.</p><p> </p><p>“Mr. Mikaelson - “</p><p> </p><p>“I am perfectly capable of restraining her, if necessary. Lift the binding.”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah?</p><p> </p><p>There was a tingle forming in her feet, it moved higher through her body - first slowly, then with increasing speed - and with a jolt, the spell binding her was lifted. </p><p> </p><p>The tugging in her heart leapt, pulling her to the approaching man.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea breathed deeply, relishing the feeling of unrestricted movement, and opened her eyes to meet a pair of intense dark ones that were as familiar to her as her own.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Azalea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Reunions.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elijah strode through the halls of the Anchorage ignoring the protests of the witches. It had been exactly one week since he had left, and he would not be away from her for a second longer than he had to be. He followed the tugging of the bond to the room where Azalea was housed in, and let himself in, barely noting the resistance of the lock on the door.  </p><p> </p><p>He entered the room to see her magically bound form laying on the bed. She was pale and weak, the strain of everything clearly having deteriorated her body. Though she could not move, he could feel her awareness of what was happening around her, a mixture of hope and apprehension pulsing through their connection. For her to have been paralyzed for this entire time, essentially trapped within a catatonic state… intellectually, he knew that it was for her own safety, but that knowledge didn’t douse the flames of anger growing within him.</p><p> </p><p>He hated to see her like this, so diminished from her usually animated self.  For a moment he wished that he would be able to turn her into a vampire, but he quickly banished the thought. Even if she would be able to heal faster and be more durable as a vampire, he could never condemn her to that hunger for blood that so defined his existence. Besides, he could not turn her even if he wanted to, as her body would simply reject the process. Once a person was made into an immortal being, they were stuck with that form of immortality for the rest of their existence.</p><p> </p><p>The magical paralysis however, that much he could fix. Keeping his gaze fixed upon Azalea, he spoke to the frazzled witch that had followed him through the hospital – Carmen, he thought it was.</p><p> </p><p>“Lift the binding.”</p><p> </p><p>“Mr. Mikaelson -” He cut her off.</p><p> </p><p>“I am perfectly capable of restraining her, if necessary. Lift the binding.”</p><p> </p><p>Clearly reluctant, she moved over to Azalea’s still form and concentrated, the magic lifting slowly. With the dissolution of the spell, Azalea shifted slightly before slowly opening her eyes, her icy blue pair capturing his own.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah.”</p><p> </p><p>Enraptured as he was, Elijah did not register the witch tactfully retreating from the room. Her voice, though thin and rusty from disuse, was among the loveliest things he had heard in his life.</p><p> </p><p>“Azalea.”</p><p> </p><p>He saw her struggle to lift herself into a sitting position, weakened muscles refusing to support her weight. He reached over to help her sit up, both letting out audible sighs of relief at the respite that swept through their system at the contact.</p><p> </p><p>That half-bond he had grew into a proper one with the contact, no longer being split between the past and the present. He was finally connected to her as she was to him.</p><p> </p><p>He had yearned to simply touch her for so long, and now he finally could. He could finally be with her in the ways that they have not be able to in the past. He could feel the joy he was feeling reflected within her, could see it in the blissful smile that spread across her face in time with his own.</p><p> </p><p>“I can touch you.”</p><p> </p><p>The smile that had been on his lips since she awoke grew.</p><p> </p><p>“I can touch <em>you.</em>”</p><p> </p><p>With this statement, he gently pulled her closer and enfolded her in an embrace, relishing the fact that he could finally feel her. They sort of fell into each other at the close contact, or as close as it could be, given the awkward position they were in. He shifted to sit on her bed and pulled her somehow even closer. There were so many things that he wanted to say to her, to <em>do</em> with her, but for now, this was enough. Right now, they just wanted to enjoy being in each other’s arms.</p><p> </p><p>After a time, he moved back slightly, Azalea giving him a miffed look at the created distance, before leaning in and letting his lips meet hers.</p><p> </p><p>There were no fireworks or any earth-shattering changes at the contact, a mere chaste meeting of lips – he could feel Azalea trembling at the effort of holding herself up even though he was supporting almost all of her slight weight, now was neither the time nor the place for passion - but there was an easing, a feeling of connection and completion. He realized there was no need for words; they had already said all of them innumerable times. But now. Now they could touch each other, communicate in a way beyond speaking. Throughout the years they had found many ways to express how they felt but the one thing they had always desired the most was to have that physical connection. Now that they could, it was almost overwhelming. As Azalea parted her mouth slightly, he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, unable to resist intensifying the intimacy of their embrace.</p><p> </p><p>The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps pierced his pleasurable haze, and he ended the kiss, disentangling himself from her as he quietly said that her nurse was approaching and settled back into the uncomfortable plastic chair at her bedside. Just as he got settled, the door opened, admitting Carmen. She had a tray of food in hand that she set on the bedside table before she spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“Here is your lunch, Mrs. Mikaelson. I’ll be back an hour to discuss the next steps of your recovery.” With that, Carmen left the room.</p><p> </p><p>He saw Azalea pause in the middle of reaching for her food at Carmen's parting statement.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea turned and gave a gimlet stare to the unrepentant vampire sitting next to her. Unperturbed, he stared back, waiting for her inevitable question. She spoke in a slow, level voice.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah, why was I just called Mrs. Mikaelson?”</p><p> </p><p>“Because, legally speaking, we are married.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea took in a deep, calming breath, held it, and then let it out slowly.</p><p> </p><p>“And why are ‘legally married’?”</p><p> </p><p>“I needed to transfer you to a witch run facility.”</p><p> </p><p>Ok. That made sense. It made a lot of sense. He had been the one to get her moved from a normal hospital to a magical one, the only person who could dictate that would be next of kin – which Azalea did not think she had, but she couldn’t be sure - or her spouse.</p><p> </p><p>But still.</p><p> </p><p>Honestly, she was not mad about being legally married to him, quite the opposite, she just would prefer it if she were an active participant the whole ‘getting married’ part of it. </p><p> </p><p>“...It doesn't count unless you propose properly.”</p><p> </p><p>He thought that she'd say something like that, and he was already planning on it, though not while she was hospitalized.</p><p> </p><p>“I know. And I will.”</p><p> </p><p>The nonverbal 'not here' was clearly communicated.</p><p> </p><p>"The hospital not romantic enough for you?"</p><p> </p><p>"As a matter of fact, no."</p><p> </p><p>"...of course it isn't." She was smiling though, and he could feel her happiness as if it were his own, so he wasn't worried about her being opposed to the notion. He handed her the still-warm tray of food, and began to speak of what she had missed while she ate.</p><p> </p><p>After a thousand years, his family was complete.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Apparently, being a memini did not exempt her from physical therapy. It definitely went faster than the human pace, but whatever the extent of her abilities in her body were, speedy healing was not one of them.</p><p> </p><p>Upside, she truly was an immortal of some kind, because her heart had stopped when she was banished into the present. Carmen informed her and Elijah that while she had died, her body dropped into a sort of stasis and repaired itself until it could function again. So, it seemed to Azalea that she had a sort of resurrective immortality. Of course, what confirmed that was the fact that she had to drink blood to survive.</p><p> </p><p>That always seemed to be the price for immortality, the thirst for that life-giving substance. Fortunately for Azalea, it was not anything like what a vampire had to go through, no, hers was different. She did not have to suffer through the rabid hunger that vampires experienced, but she did have to consume the blood of a magical being alongside normal food to function.</p><p> </p><p>She was very lucky that she was family to a coven of vampires, else she’d probably starve. Most beings didn’t take well to their blood being consumed by a stranger. And unlike vampires or werewolves, she couldn’t physically overpower most supernatural beings, and, considering how weak she was right now, a witch would probably kick her ass, or at least curse her and make her regret it later.</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, she was finally well enough to be released from the hospital. They had wanted her to stay longer, for whatever reason - that did strike her as weird, because she didn't get the impression that they particularly liked her presence in their facility - but apparently, having the (legal) last name of Mikaelson made things go a lot faster than it otherwise would have. Of course, the silently intimidating vampire looming over her shoulder may have had something to do with it.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, only Elijah was able to be with her during her recovery as the witches wouldn’t take well to more vampires in their facility, they barely tolerated Elijah’s presence. She and Elijah were presently in front of a grand mansion – because they would not be Mikaelsons if it were anything less than ostentatious.  </p><p> </p><p>Actually, she was pretty sure Klaus designed this one, it had a certain showy flare to it that was all him.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah was steadying her as they walked forwards to the doors, pushing them open as they made it up the drive.</p><p> </p><p>The first she saw when she walked in was a blond vampire on a sofa, the woman’s attention turned towards the entrance they walked through, obviously having heard them enter. Azalea spoke, her voice filled with a slightly disbelieving joy.</p><p> </p><p>She finally had what she had hoped for, to be here in the flesh with her bond mate and family. Part of her had believed that this was some kind of catatonia-induced hallucination, in spite of the bond and Elijah’s presence proving otherwise but being <em>here</em> in this home with the both of them was finally making it seem real.</p><p> </p><p>“Rebekah?”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah stood up, approaching them with a bright smile, uttering her name as she drew her into an embrace. Azalea leaned into her grasp, overjoyed that she could finally <em>be </em>with her. With all of them. Speaking of which…</p><p> </p><p>Azalea backed away from Rebekah slightly. “Where’s everyone else?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, they’ll be back soon. Sit down with me, I haven’t seen you in over a century and a half.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea smiled and heeded her command and sunk into the expensive furniture, Elijah sitting the her left and Rebekah to her right.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah has been hogging you all these weeks, you must tell me what happened.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea opened her mouth and spoke of the events of the past month, Elijah filling in for the parts that she didn’t remember. The conversation devolved into a general sharing of everything that she had missed over the past century and a half. As Rebekah turned the conversation into teasing her older brother, much to his irritation, Azalea leaned into the comfort of the plush sofa and let the words of her loved ones wash over her.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>“What’s this?”</p><p> </p><p>The ‘this’ in question was a large antique six-compartment chest against the wall of Elijah’s bedroom. They had retreated here after the rest of the family had arrived from whatever they were doing and the ensuing reunion that had taken place. It was everything she had wished for, she had spent most of the evening just catching up on what she missed, and just <em>being</em> with them for the first time.</p><p> </p><p>“This is our gift to you.” At Azalea’s curious expression, Elijah elaborated. “Sage began it, and eventually enlisted Rebekah and then the rest of us. It’s a diary of sorts, a record of all the places we have been over the years.”</p><p> </p><p>During Elijah’s explanation, Azalea opened a compartment of the trunk to see a collection of objects, books, jewelry, and many other things, things that she would have collected herself if she had been able to. She could see traces of all of them in it, artwork from Klaus, tomes on the magic she had discussed with Kol, sets of jewelry that were to her taste which were most likely from Rebekah,  a collection of magically preserved seeds that were from Sage, who she had bonded over a mutual love of gardening. There was even a collection of precious and not- so-precious stones, which had to be from Finn, she remembered mentioning to him that she liked collecting rocks – one of the few anecdotes she could recall about her life before all of this. Lastly, she came across a peculiar looking dagger. A dagger coated in ash.</p><p> </p><p>Shocked, she turned to Elijah, holding the weapon aloft.</p><p> </p><p>“You gave me this?”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re the only person I would trust with it.”</p><p> </p><p>He would trust her with the only thing that could essentially kill him. The enormity of that overwhelmed her. She dropped the dagger back into the chest and quickly crossed the room to draw him into an embrace, unable to express her feelings with mere words. He drew her in closer and she leaned into him, breathing in his unique scent when a peculiar tingling arose in her throat, a sort of itch that had been steadily growing more prevalent since they had left the Anchorage.</p><p> </p><p>She was thirsty. At the hospital, she believed that they had her on an IV of some sort of magical beings blood. Azalea had no idea how they procured it or even what kind it was, but she suspected Elijah had something to do with it because a witch wouldn’t be caught dead sharing their blood with a stranger.</p><p> </p><p>“You need to feed.”</p><p> </p><p>He moved to sit on the bed in the center of the room, gestured for her to take a seat beside him and offered her his wrist.</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah, you don’t need to -”</p><p> </p><p>“I want to.”</p><p> </p><p>That silenced her protests, and she sank onto the bed beside him, gently grasping his wrist in her hand before she sunk her teeth into it. Azalea did not have the bite strength of a vampire or werewolf or even the fangs of one, but her teeth were sharp enough to easily cut through skin and muscle. She groaned and bit down harder as his intoxicating blood flowed into her mouth, not noticing the shudder that wreaked Elijah’s frame at her actions.</p><p> </p><p>She licked her lips clean of his blood, the arousal coursing through her veins rising to the forefront now that the euphoria of feeding had faded. The previous atmosphere had deepened to something more primal. She looked up, her eyes meeting his now very intent gaze.</p><p> </p><p>She had shifted onto his lap while she was drinking, their bodies molding together, her back to his chest. This was the first time that they had been truly alone ever since they had reunited. Their connection was pulsing between them, urging them to finally complete the bond.</p><p> </p><p>There was one more moment of stillness before they moved in tandem, finally coming together to fulfill a connection a thousand years in the making.</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>There was a human doppelganger.</p><p> </p><p>Rose shuddered to remember the aftermath of Katerina’s escape; Klaus’s rage had been legendary. Had had torn through the area with his right-hand man, Elijah. The devastation they had left in their wake… Rose was a vampire, and had been for centuries, but carnage on that level was something that she never wanted to see again.</p><p> </p><p>They were hunting her still. She knew that they would love nothing more than to see her dead for her actions.</p><p> </p><p>But this. This girl could be the gateway into Elijah’s – and therefore, Klaus’s – good graces that she had been searching for.</p><p> </p><p>Rose made the call.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Curse - Elena</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena was terrified. She had just been kidnapped by two ancient vampires and told that she was about to be traded off to the progenitors of the vampire race, who wanted her dead because of a curse. She had been exposed to a lot ever since Stefan and Damon came into her life, but she had never been so aware of her mortality as she was right now.</p><p> </p><p>A knock echoed through the abandoned house.</p><p> </p><p>Elena's fear kicked into a higher gear. That must be Elijah. The sound of Rose and Trevor arguing brought her out of her daze.</p><p> </p><p>"No. He wants me dead, Rose!"</p><p> </p><p>"He wants her more."</p><p> </p><p>"I can't do this. You give her to him, he'll have mercy on you, but I need to get out of here!"</p><p> </p><p>Rose came closer to Trevor, reaching out to comfort him. "Hey! What are we?"</p><p> </p><p>With Rose's words, Elena saw Trevor's panic calm slightly.</p><p> </p><p>"We're family, forever."</p><p> </p><p>It was like they had forgotten that she was in the room. What kind of monster must this Elijah be if these two ancient vampires were terrified of him? Terrified enough to make them practically break down in front of a human stranger?</p><p> </p><p>"You're scared."</p><p> </p><p>Elena's words drew the attention of the two vampires, their faces quickly growing blank as they remembered that she was still in the room. Rose turned away from Elena and addressed Trevor one last time.</p><p> </p><p>"Stay here with her, and don't make a sound."</p><p> </p><p>Rose visibly steeled herself before walking out of the room. Trevor stayed behind, listening to a conversation that she could not hear, a series of emotions from surprise to terror crossing his face, before stiffening and turning his full attention to the entrance. Following Rose were <em>two </em>male vampires, one dressed in a dark two-piece, the other in more casual jeans and button-down under a coat.</p><p> </p><p>Why were there two of them? Which one was Elijah?</p><p> </p><p>Both vampires stilled when they saw her, and then the suited one disappeared only to materialize directly in front of her. He was fast. Elena could see a blur when Stefan and Damon moved, but this vampire had crossed the room before she could even flinch. That other one was probably just like him. How old were they?</p><p> </p><p>He bent down slowly, making for her neck. For a moment, Elena thought that he was going to bite her, but he merely inhaled softly, taking in her scent.</p><p> </p><p>"Human. It's Impossible." He met her eyes, a slight smile growing on his face. Elena quailed away from him. "Hello there."</p><p> </p><p>The older looking one spoke for the first time. "We should be going, Elijah. You know how impatient Klaus can be."</p><p> </p><p>Elena realized, with a start, that he spoke to Elijah the same way she spoke to Jeremy. Who was he?</p><p> </p><p>"Yes. We have a long journey ahead of us."</p><p> </p><p>Desperate, Elena looked over to Rose, eyes wide with fear. "Don't let him take me."</p><p> </p><p>Out of the corner of her eye, Elena saw the unnamed vampire give her a piteous glance as Rose turned her head away. Her attention was drawn back to Elijah as he began speaking again.</p><p> </p><p>"One last piece of business, and we're done." He turned to Trevor, who had not moved from his spot since they had entered the room.</p><p> </p><p>"I've waited so long for this day. I'm truly, very sorry."</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, your apology's not necessary."</p><p> </p><p>"I beg your forgiveness."</p><p> </p><p>"So granted."</p><p> </p><p>Trevor began to tentatively smile before Elijah <em>slapped</em> his head off in a quick, efficient movement. Elena flinched back, hands coming up to cover her mouth at the sudden, violent death. Rose let out a cry of grief, sinking to kneel on the stairwell, tears rising to her eyes as Trevor's corpse dropped to the ground.</p><p> </p><p>"You…"</p><p> </p><p>"Don't, Rose. Now that you are free." Elijah turned to Elena and held out a hand. "Come."</p><p> </p><p>"No, what about the moonstone!"</p><p> </p><p>Elena saw Elijah exchange a glance with the other vampire and jumped as the unnamed man materialized in front of her, all traces of pity gone from his face.</p><p> </p><p>"You know of the moonstone."</p><p> </p><p>Elena stuttered on her next words, eyes darting back and forth between the two.</p><p> </p><p>"I- I know that you need it, and I know where it is."</p><p> </p><p>"Yes?"</p><p> </p><p>"I can help you get it."</p><p> </p><p>"Where is it?"</p><p> </p><p>"It doesn't work that way." The vampire's eyes flicked down to her neck. He reached out and yanked her vervain necklace from away from her and held it up, the pendant dangling from his fingers. "Unfortunately, you are not in a position to negotiate with me."</p><p> </p><p>He pocketed the necklace and looked into Elena's eyes, pupils dilating as he began to compel her. "Where is the moonstone."</p><p> </p><p>"In the tomb, underneath the church ruins."</p><p> </p><p>Before the line of questioning could continue, there was a sound of glass breaking from upstairs.</p><p> </p><p>"What was that?" The question was directed at Rose. The woman shook her head. "I don't know."</p><p> </p><p>"Who else is in this house."</p><p> </p><p>"I don't know."</p><p> </p><p>As they moved to the next room of the house, Elena's hopes began to rise as she thought that it might be Stefan or Damon and were realized as Stefan's voice echoed through the halls.</p><p> </p><p>"Up here."</p><p> </p><p>Her hopes rose even higher when she saw Elijah blur up the stairs and receive a stake through the hand.</p><p> </p><p>"Down here."</p><p> </p><p>That was Damon. She started forwards slightly when the vampire beside her grabbed her and sped backward, away from Elijah, to the opposite side of the small room they were in. Strangely enough, he seemed to be slower than he was before. It even felt slower than the times Stefan had moved at vampire speed with her.</p><p> </p><p>"Excuse me. To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't. Do you hear that?" He broke a wooden coat hanger to fashion himself a stake. "I repeat, you cannot beat me. I presume that you are here for the girl. You have no chance of getting her from me. If you try, heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"</p><p> </p><p>Elena heard a rush of wind from beside her and saw that Rose had disappeared. Another stake flew through the air, which Elijah dodged, and then Damon materialized behind him, another stake in hand as he made to drive it through Elijah's heart.</p><p> </p><p>That's was where things began to go wrong.</p><p> </p><p>The vampire beside her suddenly moved with the frightening speed that he had before and reappeared with Stefan slammed against the wall. Horrified, Elena watched as he snapped his neck, the sickening sound of cracking bone unnaturally loud to her ears. Her attention was drawn back to Damon as an explosion sounded through the air, Elijah grasping the stairwell in and grimacing pain, rapidly healing vervain burns spread across his face. Unfortunately, Damon had not been unscathed, slower healing but less severe burns blooming across his skin as well. Despite this, Damon still attacked, going for Elijah with the stake in his hand, only to be thrown down the stairwell, towards her, by his opponent. The vampire that had killed Stefan intercepted Damon and promptly snapped his neck as well.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah approached Damon's temporarily dead body, stake in hand, stopping when Elena cried out in desperation. "Please, don't! They're my friends. They just wanted to help me. You already have me, just, please, let them go." But it was the words of the unnamed vampire that stopped him. "There's no need for senseless death. We have the girl. Let us be out of this place."</p><p> </p><p>Elijah tossed the stake aside with a forceful exhale of breath. "If you insist, brother." He turned towards her. "Your friends will not be so fortunate should they make a second attempt. Come, we have a long journey ahead of us."</p><p> </p><p>With that, he strode towards the exit of the house. Woodenly, Elena followed along, Elijah's brother preceding her.</p><p> </p><p>Stefan and Damon were dead, but she knew that they try to find her when they awoke. The thought of them meeting their permanent death made sorrow weigh down on her chest. It was horrifying enough that she was facing her demise; she didn't want them to die, too. And judging by what had happened in the house, Elijah and his brother were in a league of their own. If they found her again, they would be killed.</p><p> </p><p><em>She</em> was going to be killed, and she couldn't do a thing to stop it. This situation was different than the other times that she had been in danger by the supernatural. Now, her friends that usually helped her had been beaten, and she couldn't do anything to save herself. She had no vervain, no stakes, no nothing. Her human strength was nothing compared to that of a vampire's. She was powerless.</p><p> </p><p>They emerged from the home, the sunlight blinding Elena for a brief moment, and she was ushered to an expensive-looking car.</p><p> </p><p>Surprisingly, Elijah opened the backseat door for her; she didn't think that he would bother with pleasant manners for someone he intended to kill. Silently, she climbed into the backseat, cringing away from his form, and settled behind the driver's seat.</p><p> </p><p>She saw Elijah get into the driver's seat and turned to the passenger side to meet the dilating brown eyes of the vampire that she still didn't know the name of. Elena froze, the trance of the compulsion overtaking her.</p><p> </p><p>"You will sleep when I finish speaking to you. You will awaken when I rouse you." As the vampire continued, Elena's mind blanked, and she fell into oblivion.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Elena woke up.</p><p> </p><p>For a moment, the thought she was back at her home, in her bed, that everything was normal until the events of the past day came rushing back to her. There was the tell-tale rush of wind that signified vampire speed, and the door to the room she was in shut. She slowly sat up. She was in a bed inside of a nice-looking place.</p><p> </p><p>Where was she? And more importantly, what was going to happen to her before they killed her? No, she could not think like that. She had to escape.</p><p> </p><p>"Finn woke you up." Jolting a little at the unexpected voice, Elena turned her head to see an unfamiliar woman with mahogany hair and icy eyes sitting in a plush chair in the corner of the room, book in hand. She looked pale, almost sickly. Seeing the confusion on her face, she continued, "I'm Azalea. I'll have some food brought up for you soon."</p><p> </p><p>Finn must be that unnamed vampire who killed Stefan and Damon. Elena was quiet for a moment. This woman was one of Elijah's allies, so she wasn't going to help her, but maybe she would answer some of her questions. If she could get more information, then perhaps she could figure out a way out of this mess.</p><p> </p><p>"Where am I?" The woman shook her head. "I can't tell you that, Elena." If Azalea would not say where they were, then maybe she would say where Elijah and Finn were so Elena could avoid them as much as she was able. If she was going to plan an escape attempt, then she did not want to do it around those two. Before she could verbalize anything, Azalea spoke again.</p><p> </p><p>"Klaus doesn't want you to be left to your own devices, and I volunteered. I'm a bit less intimidating than the rest of them."</p><p> </p><p>Klaus? "Whose Klaus?"</p><p> </p><p>Azaela's brows rose at the question. She put closed the semi-opened book in her hand and sat up straighter in her seat.</p><p> </p><p>"Elena, you're not here because Elijah wants you. You're here because Klaus wants you. He's the one who wants the curse broken."</p><p> </p><p>Klaus. He was the one who wanted her dead. If it was because she was a doppelganger, then why not Katherine? So, Elena verbalized the question. She was not prepared for the expression of pure rage that crossed the other seemingly placid woman's face.</p><p> </p><p>"Katerina is no longer human, so she cannot be used for the doppelganger's part in the ritual."</p><p> </p><p>Obviously, there was a history there, and accommodating or not; Azalea was still holding her captive, so she was not going to press it. But why was she telling her this? Elijah and Finn had not exactly been a font of information. Not that she wanted to talk to them, she could still see Damon and Stefan's temporarily dead bodies in her mind's eye.</p><p> </p><p>"Why are you answering my questions?"</p><p> </p><p>A complicated expression passed over the woman's face at Elena's words. "I know that Klaus is going to use you to break his curse, but that doesn't mean you have to be miserable in the meantime. Here." The woman got up from her seat and gave her a glass of water that she hadn't seen previously. Gratefully, Elena drank it. It wasn't like they would have put anything in it, they needed her alive right now.</p><p> </p><p>"Besides, you can't leave the house." Something about the way Azalea said that made it seem more like a statement of fact rather than a declaration of intent. Finn had compelled her to sleep, maybe –</p><p> </p><p>Her train of thought was broken by a muffled shout from outside the room. Azalea cocked her head, obviously having heard whatever that shout was.</p><p> </p><p>"Ah. It looks like Klaus wants to speak to you."</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Azalea had walked her to another room, a sitting room that led to the outdoors of the property, before disappearing into a different section of the house. As Elena entered in the fear, she had been suppressing since she woke up here rose to the forefront. Sitting in the middle of the room was a handsome man with sandy hair and blueish eyes. He had a clear glass full of an amber liquid sitting in front of him. Klaus. This was the person was the reason this had happened to her. This was the man who wanted her dead.</p><p> </p><p>Elena's eyes darted to the door leading out of the house, tempted to try to run even if she knew that it would be futile. Klaus obviously saw her eyes darting to the exit because a smirk grew on his face. There was silence for a moment. Klaus appeared content to watch her struggle to speak past her fear.</p><p> </p><p>Elena gathered her courage, words leaving t her mouth in a rush. "Why do you even need me to break the curse, vampires can walk in the sunlight?"</p><p> </p><p>"That Sun and Moon business? That's not why you're here."</p><p> </p><p><em>What?</em> Before Elena could verbalize her confusion, Klaus continued. "Now, my eldest brother compelled you to be unable to leave the house unless one of us brings you out, among other things, so don't go getting any ideas, sweetheart. Now, I understand that you have a pair of very dedicated friends who attempted to rescue you?"</p><p> </p><p>Her voice cracked midway through her response. "Ye – yes."</p><p> </p><p>"And I trust you know how futile any rescue attempts would be?"</p><p> </p><p>Elena nodded, unable to speak. Klaus spoke again, his bearing beginning to grow more sinister, though his amused smirk remained.</p><p> </p><p>"Good. If you do somehow manage to escape me, I will go to Mystic Falls, I will find those two friends of yours, along with any others you may have and your family and I will personally slaughter every. Single. One. of them." Klaus's smile widened at the terrified expression on her face. She saw how easily Elijah and Finn had taken out Damon and Stefan, even if she could escape, she knew that Klaus was perfectly capable of following through on his word.</p><p> </p><p>"Do you understand me?"</p><p> </p><p>All Elena could do was nod shakily.</p><p> </p><p>"Enjoy your stay, love."</p><p> </p><p>With that parting remark, Klaus grabbed his drink from the table and left the room.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>A week had passed. There had been nothing from her friends, and Elena was unable to even leave the house, not that she could with the compulsion over her. She had eventually run into Elijah and Finn again, though she tried to avoid them as much she could. They were much less sinister upon second meeting, though, and seemed to respect her wish to avoid them. She had run into a red-headed vampire by the name of Sage, and a blond named Rebekah a few times. Not that she wanted to find out, and the two women seemed perfectly content to ignore her very existence.</p><p> </p><p>Ignoring her or not, that didn't mean that things were calm by any stretch of the imagination. There were witches in and out of the house, and Elena could sometimes hear the sounds of items being broken, as well as arguments between Klaus, Rebekah, an unfamiliar male voice, and occasionally, Sage.</p><p> </p><p>She spent much of her time with Azalea, who was stuck on doppelganger – sitting duty. She was rather kind for a person who was charged with keeping her from taking matters into her own hands, as she called it when Elena asked her why she was following her around so much. The other woman was also perfectly willing to answer her questions - suspiciously willing - but Elena would take what she could get. She didn't say much about Katherine when Elena had asked though, only something about her betraying Klaus.</p><p> </p><p>She did, however, tell her about the people she was unwillingly living with. They were all siblings, with Sage being Finn's wife and the one she had yet to meet being Kol. That explained the arguments she heard all the time. Five siblings and one sister-in-law all under one roof could not be anything but chaotic. But mostly, Elena tried to keep to herself. Her situation was bad enough; she didn't want to make it worse for herself.</p><p> </p><p>Presently, Elena was wandering around the expansive mansion that she found herself trapped inside, trying to find something to distract herself from her impending fate. There had to be a way to get out of this.</p><p> </p><p>No. Even without the threat over her loved one's lives, Elena knew that she couldn't run. That was what Katherine had done; that was the reason she was in the situation in the first place. But maybe there had to be a way to keep them safe. The moonstone was in Mystic Falls, and Klaus had made no promise not to kill them if they got in his way.</p><p> </p><p>There had to be something she knew that they would want.</p><p> </p><p>Wait. Katherine. She had betrayed them, Klaus had to want Katherine. If he knew where she was, he'd already have her. Elena may have had a total of one conversation with Klaus, but she knew that he was not the type to delay revenge.</p><p> </p><p>Elena knew that if she told him about Katherine, then she would be condemning her to a fate worse than death, but between Katherine's life and the life of the people she loved, Elena knew who she would choose.</p><p> </p><p>She needed to do this before they left for Mystic Falls, any later and her knowledge would be useless. That meant she needed vervain, or else it could be compelled from her. Fortunately, Elena was in a house full of ancient vampires, so she knew that there was a surprisingly high chance of there being vervain in the building. If there were some in the Salvatore house, then these much older, much more paranoid vampires would have some too. But where would it be?</p><p> </p><p>Absentmindedly, Elena entered into the sitting room she had met with Klaus in, only to go bright red and slap a palm over her eyes at the scene she walked in on.</p><p> </p><p>Apparently, Elijah and Azalea were together. This was not how she wanted to find that out.</p><p> </p><p>"I am so sorry – "</p><p> </p><p>Azalea seemed remarkably unperturbed by the intrusion, merely tugging her shirt back on so her upper body was clad in more than a bra, before responding to her. "No, its fine, Elena. What's up?</p><p> </p><p>Elijah raised a brow at her intrusion but otherwise did nothing. His tie was on the ground by the sofa they were on, and the top few buttons of his shirt were undone. It was distracting.</p><p> </p><p>She had never seen him in anything less than formal attire. Elena was still terrified of the man, but she recognized that he was attractive, just like everyone else in this ridiculous mansion. Elena determinately fixed her eyes on a painting hanging on the wall and stuttered out an excuse.</p><p> </p><p>"I, I just wanted to know if there were any books I could read or something?"</p><p> </p><p>"There's a library close to the kitchen. Sage and I also have an indoor garden if you want some peace from all of… this. No one'll bother you there. And don't worry about Sage getting mad at you for invading our space. She'll get over it."</p><p> </p><p>Elena thanked her and quickly fled the room.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Her search for vervain was going terribly; she'd gone into almost every part of the mansion and came up with nothing. She only had a week left before the ritual, and she needed to find it fast. Elena knew that the second they got to Mystic Falls, everyone would try to interfere, and if they did that, they would die.</p><p> </p><p>She had hoped there would maybe be some in Azalea and Sage's garden, but there was nothing. The only other place she could think of would be the basement, but she had heard things from that part of the house, so there was no way she was going down there.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea was eating lunch with her one the back porch of the house – apparently, she could leave if accompanied by a member of the family. Which Azalea was, so that thing with Elijah was obviously something serious. It was now abundantly evident that they were together because Elijah had joined them about ten minutes after they started to eat and took a seat by Azalea, who had promptly leaned into him. The familiar way they interacted with each other sent a pang of wistfulness and regret through Elena – she used to have that. Now, she would never experience it again.</p><p> </p><p>There was one thing that was bothering her. The ritual itself. "Klaus said that I'm not here because of the Sun and Moon curse."</p><p> </p><p>Azalea exchanged a look with Elijah. "You caught that, huh."</p><p> </p><p>Resolute, Elena continued. "What's really going on." At Azalea's hesitation, she pressed forward. "I'm going to die for this. Don't I deserve to know?"</p><p> </p><p>Azalea hesitated for a moment longer before conceding to her. "Fine. You're right. You deserve to know. It's not a curse on vampires. It's a curse on Klaus."</p><p> </p><p>"On Klaus?"</p><p> </p><p>Elijah spoke up this time. "He is the Original Hybrid. Half-vampire, half-werewolf. Our mother was a powerful witch and cursed his werewolf side dormant."</p><p> </p><p>There was a moment of silence as Elena absorbed the new information. That changed how she saw the whole family, honestly. They weren't doing this to weaken the werewolves as she initially assumed, they were doing this for their brother. That was a much more <em>human </em>motivation than she wanted to give them. That was a motive that she could understand, even empathize with. She didn't much like the feeling.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea took up the conversation again. "Katerina was the first doppelganger Klaus had met after his curse. They became…close, and Elijah even found a way for her to survive the ritual –"</p><p> </p><p>"There's a way to survive?"</p><p> </p><p>"Yes. A potion." Azalea observed her for a second, some unknown emotion flashing across her face before she continued. "Katerina betrayed him and ran. She's still running, and he's still looking for her." Elijah took up the expository torch this time, elaborating on the aftermath of Katherine's flight from Klaus, but Elena was not listening anymore. There was a way for her to live. As the story continued, the only thing that circled through her mind was there was a way for her to live past this.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There was a dried bundle of pale lavender blossoms bundled on the table of to the side of the indoor garden.</p><p> </p><p>Vervain. She didn't know why it was there, but there was no way she was going to pass this up.</p><p> </p><p>Thinking quickly, Elena left the indoor garden, making for the kitchen. She needed something that would disguise the scent of the herb. She knew from Stefan and Damon that vervain was very difficult to detect, even for the older vampires, but she was dealing with the progenitors of the vampire race. She would be cautious.</p><p> </p><p>Elena made for the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter, and bit into it. That should cover up the slight smell of the vervain if she ran into any of the vampires of the house. She quickly exited the room, but not before also taking a few sheets of paper towels as well.</p><p> </p><p>Elena made her way back to the garden. She made her way to where the dried vervain was and took a minimal amount of the blossoms, just enough to keep her from being compelled for a day, and bundled them into the paper towels she had taken from the kitchen. She removed her hair tie and used it to keep the small package shut and quickly shoved the entire thing into her inner jacket pocket. Theft complete, Elena left the room as quickly as she had come.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Elena knew that they were going to Mystic Falls within the next twelvish hours. That meant that is was time. She grabbed the glass she had placed on her nightstand the previous day, and quickly went to the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom and filled it with tap water. She shakily retrieved the vervain from where she had hidden it by the products under the sink, and poured the herb into the glass, mixing them. Quickly, she knocked the mixture back, grimacing slightly at the taste. She rinsed out the glass and put it on the counter.</p><p> </p><p>Taking one last glance in the mirror, she steeled herself and left her room to find Elijah or Finn. From what she had been able to figure out about the family, Klaus only really listened to Elijah, who, in turn, was close to Finn. If she could get one of the two to listen to her, then they could get Klaus to listen as well.</p><p> </p><p>Elena entered the kitchen, intending to get herself a bite to eat, and almost left the room when she saw Rebekah draining the blood of a compelled man. "Elena." Rebekah gave her a disinterested once over before turning back to her unfortunate meal. Elena forced herself to look away from the spectacle. "Do you know where Azalea is?"</p><p> </p><p>"Azalea? She's in the library with Elijah." With that statement, Rebekah returned to her meal, clearly dismissing her. Elena left the room as quickly as she could without making it look like she was running.</p><p> </p><p>She made her way down the halls, thankfully not coming across any other Mikalesons, before walking into the library. Fortunately, they were just reading.</p><p> </p><p>There were about a million ways for this to backfire, but she had to try. She decided to just go for broke.</p><p> </p><p>"Katherine. I can tell you where she is."</p><p> </p><p>At that proclamation, Elijah set aside his book and gave her his full attention. Elena almost fidgeted under the stare but made herself stay still. If she wanted this to work, then she could not be intimidated by him. "I'll tell you where she is if you promise me something."</p><p> </p><p>"I could compel you."</p><p> </p><p>"No, you can't. At least not right now. I found vervain. You're leaving before it will be out of my system, and I know you would want to know about her before you go to Mystic Falls."</p><p> </p><p>Elijah gave her a considering look before his expression blanked. He leaned back into his seat. "And what do you want in exchange for Katerina's whereabouts. Your life, perhaps?"</p><p> </p><p>That brought Elena up short for a second. A chance to survive past this, she wanted it so much. She didn't want to die, especially not for Klaus. But, no. She would not ask for that potion. Jeremy, Jenna, Stefan, Damon, everyone, they were more important than she was.</p><p> </p><p>"No. I - I just want you to promise me that my friends and family will be safe."</p><p> </p><p>For the first time since this began, she saw a glimmer of respect in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>"Alright. In exchange for Katerina, I promise that your loved ones will not die by my or my sibling's hands. Now, where is she?"</p><p> </p><p>Elena resolutely pushed down the guilt welling in her stomach. She knew that death would be a blessing compared to what Klaus would do to Katherine if he caught her, but it would keep everyone safe. Elena had to do something to protect them, and if sacrificing Katherine was what it would take to do so, then so be it.</p><p> </p><p>Resolve set, Elena answered him. "She's with the moonstone. The tomb has a barrier over it that traps people in if they enter."</p><p> </p><p>Elijah nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. As long as that barrier remained, Katherine remained out of their reach. Fortunately, one of Kol's witches could take care of it. As for Elena, he was surprised to find that she was quite different from Katerina. He thought that she would follow the pattern of similar personality as well as appearance like Tatia and Katerina had, but it seemed he was wrong. There were other ways to get information without compulsion, and failing that; he could just wait until it was out of her system, even if he would prefer to know about Katerina before he went to Mystic Falls. However, Elena's priority was that of her family, and he respected that. In deference to that respect, he would do things her way. For now.</p><p> </p><p>"You should know that if your friends or family attempt to attack my own, we will retaliate." Elena nodded shakily. Nothing about this situation was perfect, but she would take what she could get.</p><p> </p><p>"Thank you for the information, Elena."</p><p> </p><p>The room lapsed into silence as its occupants returned to what they were doing previously, the previous tension dissipated. Elena left the library to make for her own room, the stress of the conversation making her yearn for solitude. Right before she left earshot of the library, she dimly heard Azalea say something about a potion.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Curse - Kol</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kol in Mystic Falls</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't really care for the breaking of the curse business, so its going to go pretty quick. I prefer the events that come after.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kol was in the middle of the woods being followed by a werewolf who was much more obvious than he thought he was. The next full moon was about a couple of days from now, and he was – unfortunately- in Mystic Falls. He had absolutely no desire to be in this town where everything had started, the place where he had lost his magic, but needs must.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They had all of the ingredients for the ritual except for a werewolf, hence his presence in Mystic Falls. He had kept a close eye on this place following Azalea’s banishment. He made it his business to know of each and every significant coven in existence, and if he hadn’t let his aversion to his birthplace get in the way, he would have known of the coven that had captured her before it happened. After that, he had kept a much closer eye on this place, and it was evident that the werewolves of the town were not as extinct as Mikael had hoped.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His other priority was to figure out what the doppelganger’s friends had planned and to distract them. His witches had thrown off or blocked numerous attempts to get Elena’s location, and he wanted the ritual to go smoothly so that they could all get on with their lives.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He wanted to acquire a werewolf before dealing with Elena’s friends, the less interference with that the better. He could simply kill them if they tried to interfere, but he wanted them alive for the time being to keep Elena from doing something stupid when the time came for the ritual. After all, it was no use threatening someone’s well-being if they were already dead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He had brought a family of witches with him – the Martins. Kol had saved the life of the patriarch’s – Jonas Martin - mother when she was young thus incurring a debt. For witches, debts were a tangible thing that their magic would hold them accountable to. The Martins couldn’t betray him even if they wanted to, so they were the ones that would be helping with the ritual. When the ritual was done, their familial debt would be repaid, which was what Jonas Martin wanted most of all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What are you doing here?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Looks like his stalker finally decided to show himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I thought that I’d take a stroll through the woods. Lovely day, isn’t it?” To Kol’s amusement, the werewolf prowled closer his other face beginning to show itself. Weak being such as this one trying to be more threatening than they actually were was always worth a laugh.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This is pack territory, vampire, your kind doesn’t belong here.” Kol cocked his head to the side, his ever-present smirk growing wider at his words. His family had more of a claim to this land than his pack, after all. Instead of saying that, he let his actions speak for him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kol blurred forwards, palming the wolfsbane he had in his pocket as he did, and pressed it into the werewolves’ face, muffling his cries of pain with his hands until he passed out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Effortlessly hefting the ‘wolf over his shoulder, Kol blurred in the direction of his temporary home.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>It wasn’t even sunrise yet and Caroline was not having a good day. Scratch that, she wasn’t having a good month. She knew she was wallowing in her sorrows a little, but she just needed some time away from everyone. So here she was in the Grill, trying for some peace.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Elena was still missing. No matter what they did be it magical tracking or normal tracking, they just couldn’t find her. Whenever Bonnie tried to find her, her magic was blocked – all they could gather was that Elena was still alive. Damon and Stefan managed to get some information from Katherine, and then Rose when she showed up. What they had learned was…horrifying. Katherine hadn’t said much, but they had gained the rest of the story from Rose. Elena was going to be sacrificed to break the Curse. A curse that didn’t do much to effect vampires because of their daylight rings. Essentially, Elena would be dying – painfully – for nothing. And they hadn’t been able to do anything to prevent it. They couldn’t even find her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And to top it all off, she had almost been killed by the new werewolves in town who wanted revenge on Damon and Stefan. Caroline didn’t know why they hated them so much, but she assumed it had something to do with Damon being Damon, as most things did. Then Rose was killed by a werewolf bite, and then Tyler left town with Jules to go on a journey of self-discovery or something. Despite herself, Caroline was starting to lose hope. They knew just enough to realize what they were up enough against, but not enough to really do anything about it. Caroline shook her head at her depressing thoughts, she could not lose hope, if she gave up – if they gave up, then Elena would die. She could not think like that. She was startled out of her thoughts when a man – a vampire – she didn’t recognize took the seat across from her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re one of the Doppelganger’s friends, aren’t you?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only way he would now about Elena is if he was one of the ones who wanted to Curse broken. That meant he was either an Original, or one of their minions. Not willing to show her fear, Caroline looked the smirking man in his dark eyes and spoke in a steady voice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you want.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, calm down, darling, she isn’t hurt. Yet. I can’t say the same for the elder Salvatore though.” The man reached into his pocket and set a familiar bloodied daylight on the table. “He’s not dead, despite his best efforts.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Caroline did not like Damon in the slightest, but she didn’t wish him dead, and she knew that Elena definitely didn’t.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Where is he.” The vampire across from her merely widened his smile, a devious glint appearing in his eyes. “I snapped his neck, among other things. Sunrise in in half an hour. If you want him to live, I suggest you run.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The man stood up and made for the exit, a parting remark left in his wake. “Next time, I won’t be so kind.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Frozen, Caroline watched him leave the Grill. Once he had left, she shook off her paralysis, snatched the ring off the table, and ran to go save Damon’s life.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Kol could almost see why Klaus loved his mind games so much. As a rule, he was generally to impatient to foster that sort of paranoia, he generally preferred to get right to the main event, but this was proving to be rather amusing. After his run in with the elder Salvatore – who he didn’t kill because Sage still had some affection for her old protégé, not that he remembered her – and his subsequent conversation with that baby vampire, the Mystic Falls gang had begun to go after him in earnest. They were surprisingly inventive too, so at least he wasn’t bored. Of course, that was the other reason he was here. He wanted to them to focus their (futile) efforts on him, and not Elena. It was true that they were far from the most dangerous group that his family had made an enemy of, but it never hurt to be cautious.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kol had yet to visit the tomb holding the moonstone, apparently there was a sort of barrier around it that kept him from getting in. He had been content to keep it there, until now. His sibling would be arriving soon, and he wanted that rock in his possession before the situation became more volatile than it already was. Now, with the ritual happening in forty-eight hours, he needed the moonstone. Fortunately, that was what he had witches for.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kol walked into the sitting room where Jonas was sitting when his phone rang, the opening solo of Danse Macabre blaring into the room. He made a vaguely apologetic gesture – never hurt to be polite to allies – and retrieved his phone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> “Sorry, I need to take this.” He answered the call even as he spoke. The call was from Elijah who wouldn’t be contacting him unless it was for something important.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hello, Elijah.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Skipping the normal pleasantries, Elijah got straight to the point. “Kol, Katerina is in the tomb with the moonstone.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That was quite surprising. Good surprising, though. How did he – the doppelganger.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Our doppelganger been keeping secrets?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Elena is quite determined to keep her friends alive.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That meant Elijah made a deal with her. He hated when he did that, it always ruined his fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Making deals, Elijah?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes. Don’t kill them Kol. Or permanently injure them.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Fine. I assume that we’re using her for the ritual?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It would be rather poetic.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That was a yes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Wonderful. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, then.”<br/><br/></p>
<p>“Yes. Goodbye, Kol.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With that, his brother disconnected. If Katerina was in the tomb, then he didn’t want to break the barrier. No, he needed to modify it. Turning back to the attentive witches, Kol spoke.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Change of plans. I don’t want the barrier broken…”</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Katherine watched Damon and Stefan blur away from the tomb after yet another attempt to get her help finding Elena. She gave them breadcrumbs, of course – no need to alienate them when they could prove helpful in the future – but right now, she was exactly where she wanted to be. She still had the moonstone as well and with that she could bargain for her freedom from Klaus. She would still need Stefan and Damon to lower this barrier once she had her freedom, but for now this trap was what was keeping her safe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There was a displacement of air as a vampire materialized in front of her. Warily, Katherine backed away from the entrance of the tomb to observe him better. The man was obviously old, older than her, to be able to move that quickly. However, it was not the apparent age that made her cautious, it was the vague sense of déjà vu that she got from him that did it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well, well. Looks like it’s my lucky day.” It was the accent that did it. Despite herself, a seed of fear took root within her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He resembled Elijah. The smirk on his lips widened at the look on her face. “You see, darling, my brothers have been looking for you for centuries now.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That confirmed it, this had to be Kol. Katherine banished her fear. He could not get to her, she had nothing to fear from him. At least, she banished her fear until he entered into the tomb with her. She made to retreat from him, but his grip on her arm kept her frozen. He met her eyes, pupils dilating as he began the compulsion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Where is the moonstone.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In monotone, Katherine revealed the location. As Kol blurred off to retrieve it from within the tomb, her mind whirled. If he was wiling to enter, then the barrier had to be down. Not wasting a moment, she blurred for the entrance only to run into a barrier that shouldn’t be there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t bother. It won’t let you out.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Whirling, Katherine was met with Kol’s amused gaze, the moonstone clenched in his hand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Normally, this is the part where I’d kill you, but Nik called dibs on that.” He approached her again and met her eyes to compel her once more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You will stay in this tomb until I or one of my siblings come to retrieve you. You will give no indication of my presence or of your compulsion to anyone. You will not leave Mystic Falls. You will not attempt to kill, or otherwise engineer the death of my family or allies.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Compulsion complete, he exited the tomb and turned back to face her, a mocking expression on his face. “Have a wonderful day, darling.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With that, he disappeared.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Katherine backed against the wall of the tomb that had once been her haven. Despite Kol’s presence and what it entailed for her life span; she was not cowed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There had to be a way out of this. There always was. She just had to find it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Curse - Broken</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>She did not know how the ritual had been disrupted, but she was still alive – still</em> herself<em> – so she was not going to complain about it. She did not know where she was or where she was going, but she had to get out of this place.</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>She ran turned a corner and pressed on faster until she was grabbed by the upper arm. She whirled around to face her captor and felt an unexpected sting of betrayal when she saw his face.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m sorry. This isn’t the way that I wanted, but it’s the only thing I can do.”</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p><em>The man reached out his other hand, and </em>Azalea woke up.</p><p> </p><p>She was on her side, back pressed to Elijah’s bare chest. Her arm was numb. She rolled away from him to get more comfortable and felt him stir as her movements roused him from his slumber.</p><p> </p><p>“Is something wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing. Just a dream.” Azalea grimaced slightly, thinking back on what had happened. It had just seemed so real. “A weird one.” She shivered as the chill of the air started to get to her. Elijah let out a sigh and pulled her back into his arms, her chest to his this time, a contented expression appearing on his features as he felt her relax into him. He could feel her discontent through their connection and started broadcasting more calming feelings.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you think you could fall back asleep? We have a busy day ahead of us.”</p><p> </p><p>He was right. The ritual was at moonrise, and they all needed to be at their best. She felt him begin to stroke a hand up and down her naked back in a soothing gesture.</p><p> </p><p>“I could.” Her voice was already fading from the ministrations of the bond and his actions. Elijah followed her into Morpheus’s embrace, rest sorely needed for the coming day.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The place that was no known as Mystic Falls had changed much, but in some ways not at all. True, it now housed paved roads, comfortable homes, and all those other modern amenities, but it was still host to vampires, witches, and werewolves, so it had not changed at all.</p><p>They had all moved into that house (mansion) that Kol had bought and signed over to her so that there would be a barrier against vampires. Elena was with them, of course, and still compelled to be inside the house until the time for the ritual came.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea had been dragged out of the house by Rebekah to meet Kol in the creatively named ‘Mystic Grill.’ She and Rebekah took a table in a dim corner of the room and were quietly chatting over their drinks when Kol made his appearance.</p><p> </p><p>“Bekah, Azalea. How were the past few weeks? Doppelganger not too annoying, I hope?” Rebekah took a sip of her drink before replying.</p><p> </p><p>“It was boring. I’m sure you had a better time than we did.”</p><p> </p><p>The door to the Grill opened, admitting two men and two women. Upon closer inspection, it was a group of three vampires and one witch. Azalea tuned back into the conversation, keeping an eye on the group.</p><p> </p><p>“Did your better time have anything to do with them.” Azalea waved a hand in the direction of the group that was now sitting down at a table rather close to theirs.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, those are Elena’s friends. They’re rather inventive, actually. Made things interesting.” Kol was silent for a moment before a smirk stretched his lips. “How about we join them.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea was about to object – she wanted lunch, not a possible fight – but stopped when she saw the similarly mischievous expression on Rebekah’s face. There was no way she was stopping this. Resigned, Azalea said, “You two have fun with that, I’m going to the ladies’ room.”</p><p> </p><p>She just finished washing her hands when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. It was a text from Klaus asking her to meet him outside the house soon. Quickly shooting back an affirmative, Azalea left the restroom to see a handsome dark-haired vampire waiting outside the door.</p><p> </p><p>Damon Salvatore, a man who was, by all accounts, more irritating than Kol on his worst days.</p><p> </p><p> Not wanting to engage in whatever he was planning, Azalea opted to ignore him. As she walked past him to go back to her table, his hand fell on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and continued walking as he spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you usually ignore people who want to talk to you?”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea didn’t pause in her path, shooting a response over her shoulder. “Do you usually loiter outside of the woman’s restroom?”</p><p> </p><p>As she approached the table, Azalea could see a mixture of fear and irritation on the three nameless people’s faces as Kol spoke. These expressions morphed into outright anger as Rebekah said something too low for her to hear. Kol must have heard their approach because he looked up at her and Damon, and opened his mouth to make a no doubt inflammatory remark</p><p> </p><p>“Damon. I didn’t think you’d want to speak to me after what happened last time.” The time where Kol had kicked the shit out of him, stole his daylight ring and left him to possibly burn. Inflammatory, indeed. Azalea took a seat by Rebekah, who must have saved her drink because she handed the partially drained confection to her once she sat down.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, your girlfriend over here wasn’t answering my questions, so I figured we should talk.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea choked on her drink. Girlfriend? She loved Kol like a brother; the thought of dating him was profoundly disturbing. “He’s my brother.”</p><p> </p><p>The other male vampire spoke up, Stefan, she thought, a look of confusion on his face. “You’re an Original.”  Now she could see why he was confused; she didn’t sound or smell like a vampire. But she wanted to get this conversation over with, so she replied. “I’m married to one.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t see a ring.” Damon again. Azalea decided that she did not like him. Regardless of her dislike of the man, she decided to clarify. “Technically married to one.”</p><p> </p><p>And by clarify, she meant be deliberately unhelpful.</p><p> </p><p>The witch broke in, speaking for the first time since Azalea walked to the table.</p><p> </p><p>“Look, this doesn’t matter. What did you do to Elena?”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah responded to her, deciding to follow in Kol’s inflammatory footsteps. “How about you use that imagination of yours, Bennet. I’m sure you can think of something.”</p><p> </p><p>Already growing annoyed with the impending argument, Azalea’s voice cut through the rising tension. “How about one of you come by our house later. I’ll let you talk to Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>She ignored the sharp looks from Kol and Rebekah. “It's obvious that this conversation is going nowhere, so I’ll take one of you to talk to her.” If she took one to talk to her, then she might be able to get an idea about what they were planning. Azalea trusted that Elena wouldn’t do anything, she cared too much about the lives of her friends, but it as her friends that she was really worried about. It was true that they were only a group of young vampires and a half-trained witch, but that made them more dangerous in a way. The recklessness of (relative) youth combined with a witch who probably had just enough information to be dangerous could be a deadly combo if not handled right.</p><p> </p><p>She also just wanted to let Elena have some form of comfort before moonrise; she deserved that much at least.</p><p> </p><p>Damon took the opportunity to jump in. “Let’s go then.”</p><p> </p><p>“Not you. Her.” Azalea pointed to the only person who hadn’t spoken. The baby vampire, who had just been observing things as far as she knew. “Caroline, right?”</p><p> </p><p>The blonde vampire was about to respond when Damon interrupted her. “How about you take Stefan and me instead.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea leveled him a blank look. “I don’t like you. No.” She turned back to the baby vampire. “Caroline, if you go to our house in about an hour, I’ll let you talk to Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>She felt her phone vibrate again and swore when she saw the time jumping out of her chair. “I’m sorry, guys, I need to meet with Klaus.”</p><p> </p><p>Rebekah spoke for herself and Kol, not moving her eyes from the foursome who had tensed at Klaus’s name. Someone had been telling tales if the Mystic Falls gang knew to be scared of their middle brother. “Don’t worry about it, Azalea. We’ll finish things here.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“First, Rebekah and Kol drag me off somewhere, and now you?”</p><p> </p><p>“Elijah’s been hogging you. We are all trying to make up for lost time.” He sounded uncharacteristically tense. So what he said was only part of the reason why she was here.</p><p> </p><p>“And you consider…” Azalea took a quick look at their surroundings, quickly noting the tomb and connecting the dots. “…torturing Katerina a bonding experience.”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus simply gave her a look like she was the unbalanced one in this scenario. She really should not be surprised; this was Klaus she was talking about. Tormenting an enemy was far from the most disturbing thing she had seen him do. Of course, that still did not explain the odd tension that he started carrying as they approached the tomb.</p><p> </p><p>As they approached the entrance, Klaus spoke in a hushed voice. “Stay behind the barrier. Katerina is at her most desperate when she’s cornered, and Elijah would be very unhappy with me if I let anything happen to you.” Recognizing his words for the concern that it was, Azalea slowed her pace slightly and let him take the lead.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus eagerly walked into the tomb, and Azalea stopped at the boundary of the modified barrier. Kol had the Martins make the barrier permeable to anyone related to him by blood, thus allowing any of the Originals to get in and out at their leisure. Azalea had no desire to be trapped, so she opted not to go further in.</p><p> </p><p>“Katerina, how wonderful to see you again.”</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus.” Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke his name. Azalea saw Katerina’s eyes flick over to her, a calculating expression stealing across her features until Klaus’s voice echoed through the tomb.</p><p> </p><p>“After all this time apart, I thought that you would have the good sense to focus on me. Have I been overestimating you, sweetheart?”</p><p> </p><p>Katerina’s eyes flashed at Klaus’s words, an emotionless mask falling over her face. Klaus stalked closer to her, the other vampire staying stubbornly still despite the very slight tremble developing in her hands.</p><p> </p><p>“I have had hundreds of years to decide what I would do to you once I caught up to you. Using you to break my curse would be rather fitting, don’t you think?”</p><p> </p><p>His pupils dilated. “I want you to go catatonic. You will be perfectly aware of your surroundings, but you will be unable to interact with them. During your rest, you will perceive every second as an hour. You will wake when I allow it.”</p><p> </p><p>Compulsion truly was a versatile ability, one he felt was sorely underused by younger vampires. It made the victim’s mind his plaything. He could tell Katerina that she was millions of years in the future is he wanted to, and she would believe it, despite any evidence proving otherwise. Klaus usually preferred to be up close and personal when it came to tormenting people, and he had planned to follow that pattern with Katerina. At least, until he truly thought about what would damage her the most.</p><p> </p><p>He knew that being helpless and at his mercy would go further towards hurting Katerina than even the worst of physical pain. If there was one thing that he learned in his life, it was that the non-physical wounds were the ones that genuinely festered. He could torture her, but she could endure pain. Taking away her control over everything, making her powerless, would affect her more deeply than any torture could. It would make her miserable, and he wanted Katerina to be miserable until her death.</p><p> </p><p>He saw genuine fear enter Katerina’s eyes as he spoke, her veneer of defiance fading away. She collapsed as his compulsion took hold, and he carelessly hefted her over his shoulder. He had just the place to keep her.</p><p> </p><p>He turned to his almost-sister to see her observing him with a very neutral expression on her face. “I always wondered what you would do to her once you found her.”</p><p> </p><p>That was it? He was somewhat surprised; Azalea had always been the most tender-hearted out of all of them. Even Finn, the most moral of them, had been known to give in to his darker tendencies when pushed too far. Azalea had always avoided the scene of their more vampiric actions when she had the chance, so he wanted to see what she would do when presented with what he had in mind for Katerina. He’d expected some form of disapproval, not neutrality.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea had obviously seen some of his thought on his face because she spoke as they left the tomb, Katerina in tow. “I dislike her as much as everyone else, Klaus. I figured you’d have something like this in store for her.” She continued after a few moments, quieter this time. “I always avoided violence in the past because I don’t like seeing people get hurt, not because I was in denial about anyone’s actions. I know what you all are, and I made my peace with it a long time ago.”</p><p> </p><p>She saw that slight tension in Klaus vanish at her words and felt a stab of anger at Esther and Mikael. Even after all these centuries, Klaus still carried the scars of what those two had done to him. There was always a part of him that made him doubt his place in the hearts of his loved ones because of them, and it saddened her every time she saw it.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>They were just back at the house, Klaus having stashed Katerina somewhere that she didn’t want to know when Azalea heard a knock on the door. She went over the answer it, Klaus following shortly after her.</p><p>She saw Klaus pause for a moment when Caroline came into his view before he started moving again. Weird. Azalea pushed the moment out of her mind.</p><p> </p><p>“Caroline, how about you follow me to the back. I’ll go find Elena.” She had explained what had happened earlier to Klaus as they left the tomb, Klaus not arguing with her when she revealed her reasoning.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus interrupted her. “I will take her to the back. You go find Finn or Elijah along with Elena.” He stepped out of the doorway, leaving her within the safety of the threshold.</p><p> </p><p>They were all so overprotective recently. First Rebekah and Kol at the Grill – Azalea was pretty sure the only reason Rebekah hadn’t followed her to the restroom was that she and Kol could be across the room in a millisecond if need be. Not that they didn’t have a reason to be. Azalea couldn’t use most of her powers at the moment. Ever since her departure from the Anchorage, her abilities had been returning very slowly. It seemed that being forcefully banished after a week of resisting it, along with overextending herself with the White Oak, had some pretty hefty consequences. Everything but the shield, something that was virtually useless against physical threats, was still beyond her. She was recovering slowly, but all she had besides the shield was the immortality and the meager physical abilities that came with what she was.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea went deeper into the house, making a stop by her and Elijah’s room to grab an old wooden box, and continued down the halls, figuring that Elena would be in her room. She was right. The doppelganger was reading a book while sitting on her bed, the remains of an orange on her nightstand.</p><p> </p><p>“Caroline’s here to speak with you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Caroline?”</p><p> </p><p>Yeah, your friends found us at the Grill earlier.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena slowly got off her bed and started for the door, passing her by.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, Elena.” She stopped and turned to face her, a questioning look on her face. “This,” Azalea held up the wooden box she was carrying. “Is the resurrection potion.”</p><p> </p><p>The look of dawning hope and relief on the teenager’s face told Azalea that she had made the correct decision. She set the box down on her bed.</p><p> </p><p>“Why?”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea walked out of the room, not answering the question at first, and started leading Elena to the back porch. “As much as I dislike it, the only way to break Klaus’s curse is by death. I can’t stop Klaus from killing the vampire that he’ll use for his curse - not that really I want to, I hate her - and I can’t stop him from killing whatever werewolf he’ll choose. I can’t even keep him from killing you, but I can make sure that your death won’t stick. You’re seventeen, Elena, you’ve barely begun your life, and yet, you’re already prepared to die. You’re not even fighting it because you want your loved ones to be safe. That’s a quality I respect, Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>They descended the stairs and went over to the back doors where Elijah was waiting. Azalea smiled at the sight of him and went over to greet him with a quick kiss. “You heard Klaus?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. I believe your visitor is waiting for you.” He held open the door for both of them, and the couple followed behind Elena as she went to catch up with her friend.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The moon was in position.</p><p> </p><p>All three of the sacrifices were here, the witches were in position, and the family plus Caroline – who was present at Elena’s request - was scattered throughout the clearing to watch Klaus’s curse break. Greta Martin was flanked by her father and brother, all three of them choosing to be present for the ritual, even though only Greta was needed. It was perfect.</p><p> </p><p>Of course, that was when things had to go wrong.</p><p> </p><p>The vampires in the clearing – including Caroline - dropped as an incapacitating wave of magic emanated from Bonnie Bennet, who both should not be here and should not have access to that much power.</p><p> </p><p>The sounds of conflict arose in the clearing as the Martins engaged Stefan and Damon, while still keeping all three of the sacrifices bound to their circles. Azalea could see the surprise on both Elena and Caroline’s faces at what was happening. It was good to know that Elena was good on her word; she’d hate to have wasted that potion.</p><p> </p><p>She threw herself to the side as Stefan came towards her to put her out of commission – thank you enhanced reflexes – and reached into the slowly replenishing well of her power and cast out her shield – she didn’t know if it would do anything, but it was worth a try.</p><p> </p><p> Bonnie’s spell flickered for a few seconds. Those brief seconds were all that was needed. Witches, while powerful, were still suspect to the same physical limitations as any mundane human. Finn blurred forwards, faster than Bonnie could react, and simply knocked her out. The pervasive magic flooding the clearing disappeared. Azalea heard the sound of Kol and Rebekah compelling Stefan and Damon to stay still, silent, and watch the ritual.</p><p> </p><p>Breathing deeply to steady herself from the draining of power that she really shouldn’t have used, she gratefully accepted the helping hand from Elijah, who pulled her to her feet. She answered the <em>worry/concern</em> he sent through the bond with a wave of <em>comfort/relief</em> as she leaned into his form. Bonnie was a mighty witch, but not that powerful. She must have been drawing from another source, which explained why Azalea was so wiped out from what she just did.</p><p> </p><p> There was a moment of stunned silence before Kol spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“Let’s get on with it before something else happens.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena was lucky that she didn’t have anything to do with this, or else that resurrection potion wouldn’t have mattered. Judging by the look on her face, she knew it too.</p><p> </p><p>Greta went back to her position in front of the lit brazier, Klaus approaching her.</p><p> </p><p>“I spent 500 years looking for this thing. I hate to part with it.” He handed the rock to her.</p><p> </p><p>“The moon had passed its apex. Remember everything you need to do?”</p><p> </p><p>“I remember.”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus first went to the werewolf, who was moaning in pain from not being able to transform.</p><p> </p><p>“Shall we?”</p><p> </p><p>The ring of fire vanished, and the werewolf’s eyes turned yellow as he attempted to attack Klaus. He was overpowered quickly and slammed onto the ground as Klaus tore his heart out.</p><p> </p><p>Greta’s chanting continued as Klaus approached the fire and squeezed the werewolf’s blood into it.</p><p> </p><p>“Does that mean it’s working?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s working.”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus eagerly turned to the now uncompelled and strangely composed looking Katerina, and stood in front of her, studying her features. “I have waited for this moment for centuries. Everything you’ve sacrificed to get away from me was all pointless, in the end.”</p><p> </p><p>Katerina stood up straighter, inclining her chin. “Just get on with it, Klaus.” Despite herself, Azalea felt a glimmer of respect for the woman. Not many people would be so dignified in the face of their death.</p><p> </p><p>The ring of fire disappeared. For all her faults, no one could claim that the woman would go down without a fight, futile as it proved to be in the end. Katerina’s corpse hit the ground, a wooden stake through her heart. Klaus poured her blood into the fire.</p><p> </p><p>He went to Elena last, the ring of fire disappearing as he approached. “Thank you, Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>Her eyes darted to Azalea’s, who nodded slightly at her. Elena lifted her head to meet Klaus’s eyes, and she said nothing, merely brushing her hair off of her neck. Klaus neatly drained the blood from her body and lowered her temporary corpse to the ground rather than letting it fall like the others.</p><p> </p><p>He looked up at the moon, eyes ringing wolfish yellow, vampiric veins appearing under them. “I can feel it. It’s happening.”</p><p> </p><p>As the sickening cracks of the transformation began to echo through the clearing, Caroline quietly approached to pick up Elena.</p><p> </p><p>“She should wake in seven hours, Caroline.” The blonde vampire had tears glimmering in her eyes as she held the corpse of her friend, but she nodded at Azalea’s words before blurring away. Azalea looked over to Stefan and Damon, who had just been released from the compulsion and were looking over at Katerina’s body, devastated expressions on their faces.</p><p> </p><p>A brief pang of sympathy went through Azalea. They had just seen two women they loved die this night. She may have hated Katerina, but they had loved her once. “Take her.”</p><p> </p><p>Stefan looked up at her words. “What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Take her. I won’t offer it again.”</p><p> </p><p>The brothers exchanged a look, one going to grab Bonnie and the other Katerina. They disappeared to the sound of Klaus completing his transformation to werewolf.</p><p>Azalea felt herself be lifted into Elijah’s arms, to her surprise. He had a rather solemn expression on his face.</p><p> </p><p>“Its too dangerous for you to be in the woods right now. I’m taking you home.” Azalea simply nodded at him, the events of the day finally catching up to her. She was in no condition to be dealing with a freshly turned Original Hybrid.</p><p> </p><p>She felt the world change to a blur as Elijah sped them back to the house.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Caroline had known that Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie were planning something, even if they didn’t say much to her. All they had told her was that they were going to save Elena from the ritual so that they could buy another month to find a way to kill Klaus.</p><p> </p><p>She hadn’t said anything about it to Elena when she spoke to her earlier in the day because she wanted her to have some plausible deniability if things went wrong. And gone wrong it had.</p><p> </p><p>At least they were all still alive, which was more than Katherine could say.</p><p> </p><p>The talk at the house had been good. Very good. Elena looked better than Caroline thought she would after being held captive for a month, and even with an ancient vampire and whatever Azalea was looking on, she had been happy to be able to talk to her friend. They talked about normal things – the fact that she was dating Tyler now, new gossip that Elena had missed – before getting to the elephant in the room. Elena had told her about the potion that she had taken, and why she was trusting it, so Caroline decided to believe it as well. After all, it was made to save Katherine when Klaus still loved her, so why wouldn’t it work. From what Caroline had heard from Bonnie, potions with that kind of strength didn’t stop working unless they were shoddily made, and Klaus didn’t seem to be the type who would trust a lackluster potion.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus had been interesting. She hadn’t felt as scared as she thought she would when she met him, and he had been weirdly gentle with Elena during the ritual. Caroline did not like the man by any means, he <em>had</em> killed Elena, but he wasn’t what she thought he would be either.</p><p> </p><p>All in all, what happened over the past 24 hours wasn’t the worst-case scenario.</p><p> </p><p>But that did not change the fact that Elena was dead. As time passed, she was losing hope that her friend would come back.</p><p> </p><p>Then she heard the heartbeat.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Unleashed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't know remember too much about the whole Ghost Affair in s3, so I skimmed over it. Sorry in advance for any glaring errors.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>“Can’t sleep?”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea was laying alone on a sofa close to the kitchen when she heard Sage’s voice. Elijah had vanished back into the woods after getting her to the house, presumably to help wrangle Klaus as he did his hybrid thing. She felt…off. It was more than the residual energy from ritual, it was a kind of prickling unease hovering just out of reach. It had started once Elena died, but had not become truly noticeable until now. She felt unbalanced, like she owed someone a debt. It was not a feeling she particularly enjoyed.</p><p> </p><p> Azalea sat up on the plush furniture at Sage’s words. “No. I’m still too…” she made a vague gesture at the moonlight streaming through the window. “You know. You didn’t stay out there?”</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t want to risk it. Klaus would give me his blood, but I’d rather not suffer through a werewolf bite again.”</p><p> </p><p>Here Azalea winced, having been present for that incident. Sage had been bitten by a werewolf exactly once in her life, when she was only a few centuries old. It was the first time Azalea had ever seen Finn lose his temper, and the resulting violent death of the werewolf and his pack had made the relationship between the normally serene Finn and his two more volatile brothers very evident. The poison had been brutal, and they had discovered Klaus’s ability to heal werewolf bites with his blood out of sheer desperation to keep Sage, and by extension Finn, alive.</p><p> </p><p>Sage walked over to the cupboard in the adjoining room, pulling out two glasses and a bottle of wine. Azalea could see a rather uncharacteristic worry in her form as she poured them both drinks. It struck her as odd. Aside from the residual tension from the ritual she did not see why Sage would be concerned.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you worried about?”</p><p> </p><p>“This was easy. Too easy. I was expecting something more from the Salvatore’s. Or at least from Damon.”</p><p> </p><p>At Azalea’s quizzical look, the redhead continued, “After Mikael burned New Orleans, Finn and I traveled north, and we got to know Damon. I found him interesting, and he was an attractive distraction from what happened in New Orleans -”  </p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t know that you and Finn took separate lovers?”</p><p> </p><p>At that, Sage let a rather self-satisfied smirk cross her face. “We don’t. As I said, <em>we</em> got to know Damon.”</p><p>
  
</p><p><em>Oh.</em> <em>They </em>got to <em>know </em>Damon. Well, she could have happily gone on without that knowledge. Pushing aside the unwanted revelation about Finn and Sage’s sex life she refocused on what the other woman was saying. Sage set down a wine glass on the table in front of Azalea and settled beside her before continuing, drink in hand.</p><p> </p><p>“I took him on as a protégé of sorts. Finn compelled him to forget our identities when we left, so he wouldn’t be able to recognize us if he saw us again. Aside from his devotion to that doppelganger, he hasn’t changed much from when I last saw him. I know Damon’s personality. He loved Katerina and he’s in love with Elena and he’s not the type to let something like their deaths – even if Elena’s was temporary- pass without some kind of retaliation.”</p><p> </p><p>Sage set down her drink and captured Azalea’s gaze with her own.</p><p> </p><p>“This was too easy. Yes, he and Stefan are young vampires and their allies are nothing compared to what we’ve faced in the past, but our family didn’t survive for this long by underestimating our enemies. I don’t think this is over yet.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea leaned back into the sofa, worry beginning to press down on her at Sage’s words. The two women fell silent, gazing out into the darkness as they waited for the first light of dawn.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Caroline had spent the day after the curse with Elena who really needed some proper girl time after everything that happened. After the potion had revived her, a somber Damon and Stefan had shown up expecting to be greeted by Elena’s corpse. To their happiness, she was alive. Unfortunately, the entire conversation had devolved into an argument about the Original. Damon and Stefan wanted to kill them – they believed that Klaus was not done yet. Elena wanted to let sleeping hybrids lie. Caroline could see where both were coming from, but she thought that what the Salvatore’s truly wanted was revenge for Katherine’s death. They still loved her, even with all the havoc she had wreaked in their lives. And now she was gone.</p><p> </p><p>Caroline understood, but had stood by Elena. There was not a point in provoking the Originals. It would only make everything worse.</p><p> </p><p>Caroline had intended to go check on Bonnie after Elena woke up but opted to stay instead. With everything that had happened, on top of the argument with Stefan and Damon, Elena needed a friend. Caroline would go find Bonnie later in the day. Elena needed her more right now.</p><p> </p><p>Their haze of junk food, ice cream, and Netflix was broken by a knock on the door. They both shared a look and decided to go down together. Caroline opened the door warily – whoever was there, they weren’t human. Their heart beat was to slow. The door swung opened revealing -</p><p> </p><p>“Azalea.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey.” The woman raised her hands in the universal ‘surrender’ sign. “I come in peace. I’ll be out of your hair in five minutes, I just need to talk to you about something.”</p><p> </p><p>Angry, Caroline interrupted before she could say anything. “What else could you want from her?” Irritatingly enough, her comment just made the woman smile.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t want anything from her, I want to give something to her.” At that, Caroline backed down slightly, though she was still wary. Yes, Azalea had given Elena the resurrection potion but that didn’t mean that she was trustworthy in the slightest. After a moment’s hesitation, Elena opened the door wider, and walked out onto the porch.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s OK, Caroline.” Elena turned to address Azalea. “Let’s talk.”</p><p> </p><p>“I just wanted to tell you that we’re leaving Mystic Falls. Klaus wants to make more hybrids, and it seems all the werewolves around here have disappeared again.”</p><p> </p><p>For once, Caroline was grateful for Tyler’s frequent disappearing acts. She didn’t want him to get caught up in this. Azalea held up a piece of paper with a… phone number on it?</p><p> </p><p>She handed it to a surprised Elena. “This is my phone number. If you are in a situation where you really need help, call me.”</p><p> </p><p>Slowly, Elena took it. She gave Azalea a mistrustful look. “Why are you giving this to me?”</p><p> </p><p>“As far as I’m concerned, I owe you. We owe you. Kidnapping and threats aside, you willingly gave your life for my brother and we have not really done anything to help in return. Besides, I like you. If you need something, give me a call. I’ll see what I can do.”</p><p> </p><p>At this, Azalea’s lips quirked up into a slight smile before she bid them to “Have a good day.” Caroline and Elena watched her get into a car that was idling across the street before they retreated into the house, not knowing what to make of the encounter. The Originals were leaving Mystic Falls, that much was a good thing. The thing that bothered Caroline was that that Azalea said nothing against them coming back.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Damon was not happy.</p><p> </p><p>He had originally been having no headway in finding a way to kill Klaus, or any of the Originals. Yes, they had left town, but that did not mean they were not coming back. It did not matter to him either way. Klaus had (temporarily) killed Elena- had killed Katherine.</p><p> </p><p>He and Stefan had started looking for ways to get Klaus out of the way permanently when the ghosts started appearing. That was bad enough, but then Elena proved that she was insane because she had called that woman who hanged around the suited Original when it became clear that the ghosts were not going to disappear. Worse, the woman had actually been helpful in getting the ghosts to rest again – apparently, she was something of an expert in thing that ‘walked the boundaries between life and death’ or whatever. Thankfully, she didn’t actually come to the Mystic Falls, she just gave Elena information. Information that Elena gave to Bonnie, who in turn banished the ghosts. Upside, the ghosts were much less of a problem then Damon thought that they would be. Downside, he was starting to get the feeling that Elena<em> liked</em> Azalea. How could Elena forget that anyone attached to the Originals was Bad News?</p><p> </p><p>Elena’s ability to see the best in people was one of the things he loved about her, but it could be very inconvenient at the best of times.</p><p> </p><p>The only good thing to come of the entire affair was that the ghosts knew of a vampire hunter that could kill Klaus. After finding a way to talk to the ghosts – that had been a complete pain in the ass – he and Stefan had found the location of the ‘Original Hunter’ that Klaus was apparently so terrified of.</p><p> </p><p>The hunter – Mikael, apparently - was a desiccated corpse chained up inside of a tomb. Not too impressive. The worst thing in this entire series of irritating events was the fact the hunter <em>would not wake up.</em></p><p> </p><p>They had tried everything from animal blood to splashing water on Mikael’s face. Utterly done with the situation, Damon went for the tried and true method for reviving immortals: human blood. Ignoring Stefan’s disapproving look, Damon sped off and compelled the first human he could find unconscious. His brother should be proud – he did not kill him. If he did, Stefan would have bitched about it for weeks.</p><p> </p><p>Damon opened a wound in the limp man’s arm and trickled blood into the desiccated hunter’s mouth. That did the trick. The man jolted into awareness.</p><p> </p><p>“Get that away from me!”</p><p> </p><p>Damon thew the human at Stefan who caught him with a disapproving glare. “There. Happy?”</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>Miakel leaned back on the tomb, eyes closing.</p><p> </p><p>“You know, I thought that the “Original Hunter” would be more impressive.”</p><p> </p><p>“I apologize for my outburst. It would make more sense if you had known that I’ve been denying myself human blood for as long as I can remember.”</p><p> </p><p>Seriously? Another bunny muncher. Looks like this had been a bust. At Mikael’s words Stefan finally decided to contribute to the conversation. “We though that you would be able to help kill Klaus, but I think we were mistaken.”</p><p> </p><p>Mikael started to struggle, rattling at his chains. “Would you mind letting me up? I assure you that there is no way to kill Klaus from beneath these.”</p><p> </p><p>Damon exchanged a look with his brother. “That means you can kill him?”</p><p> </p><p>“I can. And I will.”</p><p> </p><p>After one more wary glance, the brothers freed Mikael from his prison. “Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Some human blood would make things a lot easier for you.”</p><p> </p><p>Mikael stood up and faced Damon, and oddly intense look in his eyes. Wary, Damon and Stefan backed away slightly. “I don’t feed on living things.”</p><p> </p><p>Stefan spoke next, words coming forth slowly. “Then what do you eat?”</p><p> </p><p>Damon caught a blur of movement from Mikael – he was <em>fast -</em> and then felt the pain of teeth against his neck before everything went black.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The whole Ghost thing was resolved and Mikael woke up sooner than in the show. What the Originals are up to right now will be in the next chapter. I probably won't be able to update until September though.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Unleashed - Elijah</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What the Originals are up to before Mikael woke up</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>It was three-thirty in the morning, and there was a werewolf screaming and convulsing on the ground from yet another failed hybrid attempt. Elijah absentmindedly adjusted his tie as the screams ratcheted higher, and abruptly stopped after a crunch sounded out. That was the third werewolf to die in this way, and Elijah honestly felt that he had much better things to do with his time than babysit his youngest siblings. He pushed himself off his perch against the tree as he waited for someone to break Klaus’s frustrated silence.</p><p> </p><p>“Still having performance issues, Klaus?”</p><p> </p><p>Kol. As diplomatic as ever.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re commentary is not welcome.”</p><p> </p><p>“I hear that there’s a pill for that now. Maybe you should look into it?”</p><p> </p><p>Klaus’s no doubt their sister’s annoyed huff cut off the no doubt incendiary retort. Attention momentarily diverted, the hybrid addressed her instead.</p><p> </p><p>“Something to add, Rebekah?”</p><p> </p><p>She pinned him with an irritated look.</p><p> </p><p>“You made me ruin a perfectly good pair of heels.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em>I</em> wasn’t the one to go after a werewolf pack in five hundred dollar footwear.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em>You</em> wouldn’t understand – “</p><p> </p><p>He spared a moment to be wistful for his warm bed and presumably sleeping mate – he may be a vampire, but he still enjoyed sleep – before interfering in the brewing argument.</p><p> </p><p>“CHILDREN!” The three shared firey looks, but shut up. “Are you done?”</p><p> </p><p>Ah, blessed silence. He enjoyed all ten seconds of it before they started arguing again. Squabbling aside, there was clearly something wrong with the hybrid process. Whatever it was, it had to be something around the magic of the turning. The problem with that was, the only person who could effect that was…</p><p> </p><p>“I think this is Mother’s fault.”</p><p> </p><p>His words abruptly silenced the argument. For obvious reasons, he seldom spoke of Esther, and his siblings mostly respected that silence. He wouldn’t bring her up unless it were crucial.</p><p> </p><p>Klaus spoke, his words tinted with betrayal. He still loved Esther after all; they all did despite her inaction with Mikael and how everything had ended.</p><p> </p><p>“You think Mother had something to do with this?”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah honestly didn’t want to believe it either. Even with the curse and everything went with it, some irrational part of each of them clung to the idea that she loved them as well. To find that Esther had done more than merely seal Klaus's werewolf side still stung. But, if he pushed his very mixed feelings about his mother aside, it made sense. Esther had proven that she valued the balance over her children, and she had been the one to curse Klaus in the first place. Why wouldn’t that curse extend to any potential hybrids?</p><p> </p><p>Kol’s words came slowly, thoughtfully as he mulled over Elijah’s words. “It makes sense. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before, but it makes sense.”</p><p> </p><p>The other three shared a look before turning to their brother. He was the magic expert among them. Eh started pacing around the clearing, as was his habit when he wanted to figure out a particularly tricky problem. Kol’s words came slowly at first and then sped up as he began to grow more sure of his idea.</p><p> </p><p>“When a new vampire is made, their transformation mirrors ours. The components are the same, drinking blood and then dying. It should be the same for hybrids, as long as the process is enacted on a werewolf. We broke Klaus’s curse, so its not that. The only option is that some component of the transformation is missing…”</p><p> </p><p>In the silence that followed, it was Rebekah who voiced what they were all thinking.</p><p> </p><p>“Then what are we missing?”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It was late morning, and Elijah had settled on a sofa with a myriad of tomes to do research. Unfortunately, the books they had from Esther’s collection proved to be unhelpful as her personal grimoire was most likely interred with her. That wouldn’t be a problem if he actually knew where his mother was laid to rest.</p><p> </p><p>The biggest issue was that none of them knew how Esther had changed them. The only information they had was that their mother had tainted their wine with bespelled blood and had them drink more blood upon their reanimation to complete transformation.</p><p> </p><p>After the transformation, they had been immediately chased out of their home by Mikael. They had risked going back only a few days after to return Esther’s body to the earth, as was the custom for witches, but her body had been moved. They hadn’t wanted to risk staying for longer than a few hours lest Mikael catch up to them, so they had taken what they could from their home and ran.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah refocused his attention on the tome in his hands and settled into the ancient writings. His reverie was broken by an uncharacteristically miffed Azalea storming into the room.</p><p> </p><p>“What the actual fuck is wrong with Mystic Falls.”</p><p> </p><p>He closed the tome at her words and sat up from his relaxed position. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d heard Azalea curse. She tossed the phone that she gave Elena the number to on the coffee table, threw herself into the cushions beside him, and let out a dramatic huff. She had two of them – a personal phone and a ‘business’ phone, the latter being the one she had just thrown.</p><p> </p><p>“We’ve been gone for, what is it…four months?”</p><p> </p><p>“I believe so.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, four months, and in that time, there have been ghosts, vampire hunters, more werewolves, and now random dead vampires are showing up but no Hunters in sight.”</p><p> </p><p>He felt exhausted, just listening to that.</p><p> </p><p>“When I gave her my number, I didn’t think she’d be using it so often…” Azalea trailed off as her phone pinged again. She glanced at the text and promptly buried her head into her hands with a  groan. “That was more than I ever wanted to know about Stefan Salvatore.”</p><p> </p><p>Right. That was enough of that. He would find this entire affair funny if he couldn’t feel how much this was getting to her. Underneath the dramatics, there was a potent mixture of stress and worry for Elena, and to a lesser extent, Elena’s friends. He reached over and plucked the phone from her grasp.</p><p> </p><p>“What? Hey! Elijah – “</p><p> </p><p>He silenced it before pulling her to her feet. He held the device away from her grasping hands, much to her protests. “I will give this back if you promise to relax for a few hours.”</p><p> </p><p>She gave him an evaluating look, trying to see if this was a battle worth fighting. After a moment, she crossed her arms under her chest before saying, “I’ll relax if you do too. You’ve had had your nose buried in those books since before I woke up.”</p><p> </p><p>She did have a point; reading tomes that were barely legible to even a vampiric eye did get very old very quickly.</p><p> </p><p>“Deal.” He gave her the cell back before an idea occurred to him. He tilted his head towards the door. “We should go out.”</p><p> </p><p>By the smile that illuminated her face, that was an idea she approved of. “We should. Just give me a couple of minutes to change.”</p><p> </p><p>He supposed that someone in a worn tank top and torn jean shorts out with another in a three-piece would be a little strange. Azalea quickly vanished up the stairs. He could feel how happy she was – they needed to do this more often. Between Klaus adjusting to his newly awakened abilities, the ongoing crisis that was Mystic Falls, and whatever was wrong with making new hybrids; they hadn’t had much time to themselves lately. A date was definitely a good idea.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea reappeared in a simple green dress and heels. Contrary to his tastes, she didn’t favor formal clothing. What she was wearing at the moment was pretty much as formal she ever got. He offered her his arm, which she took with a smile. “Shall we?”</p><p> </p><p>“We shall.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They ended up spending the rest of the day out. The sun was just kissing the horizon when they made their way back to the house. His suit jacket was on Azalea’s shoulders, and she was holding her heels in her hand as they walked up the long drive. Their contentment was buzzing between them, the emotions creating a pleasant feedback loop in the bond.</p><p> </p><p>He was still unaccustomed to the privilege of <em>being</em> together with no sense of urgency or impending separation. They hadn’t done anything fancy, merely dinner at an out-of-the-way restaurant, but it was more than enough. By some silent consensus, they opted to sit on the porch instead of entering the (chaotic) house where he could hear Rebekah and Sage speaking together, as well as Klaus and Kol conversing in slowly elevating tones. He’d give it ten minutes before an argument broke out.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea leaned against him, bringing him back to the present moment. “Hear something?”</p><p> </p><p>He shifted so that his arm was around her and gently pulled her closer before he shook his head. “Nothing important. Klaus and Kol are arguing.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea let out a huff of amusement. “Business as usual then.” She pulled his jacket tighter around her shoulders. “We should do this more often.”</p><p> </p><p>“We should. We will.”</p><p> </p><p>She didn’t respond, merely gazed out to the fiery sunset. The sense of contentment he was getting from her deepened, and with it his own. Then, the shrill ring of Azalea’s phone shattered the mood.</p><p> </p><p>She startled, before digging into his suit jacket where he had put it earlier. She sighed as she studied the screaming device letting out a rueful comment before she swiped her thumb across the screen. “Well, it was nice while it lasted… What’s up, Elena?”</p><p> </p><p>Elijah listened in on the conversation, alarm turning into bone-deep terror as it progressed.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you positive?... Ok, ok. Bye.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea exchanged a fearful look with him as they rushed inside the house. He had been right, Klaus and Kol were actively arguing, though it wasn’t a serious one. It was, however, loud enough that they didn’t hear what Elena had said.</p><p> </p><p>“KLAUS! KOL!” The two quieted as Azalea’s shout, and the other three looked up, concern growing on their faces – she, like Finn, didn’t raise her voice unless it was necessary. “We have a problem.”</p><p> </p><p>It was Elijah who broke the news, though. “Mikael is in Mystic Falls.”</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I made it before September! Barely. I will try to update once a month. I recently started college so RL is very hectic for me.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Unleashed - Elena</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mikael makes his move.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter gave me many issues and I honestly still don't like it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The last month had been stressful to say the least. Elena had thought that finding the identity of the hunter killing vampires in the area would help, but it just made things worse. </p><p> </p><p>She was at the Salvatore house to tell Stefan and Damon about her encounter with the Hunter,</p><p>Mikael. She honestly had no idea who he was or where he had come from. All she knew was that he was terrifying. </p><p> </p><p>He had shown up on the porch of her house after she came back from a date with Stefan and politely introduced himself to her.</p><p> </p><p>It was almost funny. That ten minute conversation with Mikael had left her more terrified than a month under Klaus’s thumb. The interaction had been almost congenial, but Elena wasn’t stupid. The only reason an ancient vampire would show up at her home would be to make a statement.</p><p> </p><p>For whatever reason, Mikael was interested in her, was confident enough in his own abilities that he didn’t care if she knew that he was behind the deaths, and he knew where she - and more importantly- her family lived. Elena had received the message loud and clear.</p><p> </p><p>At least with Klaus she knew what he’d wanted from her.</p><p> </p><p>After MIkael had left, Elena had called Azalea. If anyone knew who the ancient vampire was it would be her. Oddly enough, they had become friends. Elena only texted her for information about the ghosts first, but it evolved into an unexpected camaraderie. They had an unspoken agreement to not discuss any Originals Business. Azalea didn’t offer anything about thing, and she didn’t ask. Elena was quite happy to keep it that way.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea’s reaction had not made her feel better. The mere mention of Mikael was enough to make the normally unflappable woman audibly terrified.</p><p> </p><p>So, yeah. Things had been stressful.</p><p> </p><p>Her phone binged, breaking Elena out of her thoughts. It was a text from the woman herself.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Just drove in. You have time to talk in person?  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Yes. Where? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Mystic Grill in an hour sound good?  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Yes </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Who was that?”</p><p> </p><p>She looked up on her phone to see Stefan and Damon giving identical questioning looks. Even though Elena knew that it would only start an argument with her boyfriend and Damon, she answered truthfully.</p><p> </p><p>“Azalea”</p><p> </p><p>“Elena, you can’t trust her.”</p><p> </p><p>There it was.</p><p> </p><p>“Why not?”</p><p> </p><p>Damon jumped into the rapidly brewing argument. “Are you forgetting that she helped get you killed?”</p><p> </p><p>Elena had not, in fact, forgotten that. But she also didn’t forget who had brought her back.  Azalea had helped keep her captive out of love for her brother. Yes, Elena was still terrified of Klaus, but she could understand devotion for family even if she didn’t see what the other woman apparently saw in the hybrid. With that in mind, she retorted.</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus got me killed. Azalea made sure I came back.”</p><p> </p><p>Not to mention, Elena honestly liked having a girlfriend who didn’t have an opinion on her relationship with Stefan and Damon. Seeing both brothers open their mouths to object again, Elena cut them off. “Look, even if you can’t trust her she’s the only one who knows anything about Mikael.”</p><p> </p><p>At that, a confused expression crossed Stefan’s features. “How do you know Mikael?”</p><p> </p><p>Elena froze, the beginnings of trepidation rising. Why would they know who Mikael was? She hadn’t meant to say the ancient vampire's name, it had just slipped out in the moment. </p><p> </p><p>“He showed up at my house. How do <em> you </em> know Mikael.”</p><p> </p><p>The brothers exchanged a look, before Damon answered her.</p><p> </p><p>“Mikael is the only one strong enough to kill Klaus.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena slowly stood up, the words curling in her mind. They knew that Mikael was in Mystic Falls before anyone else had. That meant that they may have led Mikael to Mystic Falls.</p><p> </p><p>“You both led Mikael here?”</p><p> </p><p>“Klaus needs to die, Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>That as a yes.</p><p> </p><p>They had willingly and knowingly endangered her family and friends for revenge on Klaus. <em> Stefan </em> had done that without saying anything to her. And she hadn’t noticed anything off about him. She turned away from Damon and faced her boyfriend.</p><p> </p><p>“Why does Klaus need to die, Stefan?”</p><p> </p><p>“Elena, he <em> killed </em> you.”</p><p> </p><p>“He killed me. That means getting revenge is my choice, not yours. And I don’t want that.”</p><p> </p><p>“We don’t know what he’ll do next. He already killed you. I’m trying to protect you!”</p><p> </p><p>She ignored Stefan’s words.</p><p> </p><p>“You led Mikael here, put Bonne and Caroline in danger, put <em> Jeremy </em> and <em> Jenna </em> in danger. Don’t lie to me and say revenge isn’t part of it.”</p><p> </p><p>Damon spoke before Stefan could, his words earnest.</p><p> </p><p>“You know what he’s done. He needs to die.”</p><p> </p><p>He had a fervent light in his eyes as he said those words. Elena wasn’t blind to the fact that Damon was attracted to her. If she was being honest with herself, she felt a pull to him as well even though she was with Stefan. But the look on his face...it was only one she had seen when he had talked about Katherine. It had never been directed at her before now.  At the realization, she felt something heavy settle on her chest. Stefan looked at her that way. She’d always thought that it had been love, but now she wasn’t so sure.</p><p> </p><p>“Because of what he did to me? Or to Katherine?”</p><p> </p><p>But he didn’t answer. Neither of them did. She felt something break a little, within her. She had hoped that… well. It didn’t matter anymore. In the silence that followed her question, Elena left the boarding house with the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There was a harsh tugging in her chest, pulling her towards the Salvatore house. Elena ignored it, her sense of betrayal still stinging.</p><p>It wasn’t that they had brought Mikael to Mystic Falls, it was that they hadn’t talked to her. Katherine- Elena resolutely ignored the pang in her chest at the thought of the woman - aside, she knew at least part of their motivations had been because of her. But she hadn’t wanted to go after Klaus because of what he had done. What had happened, happened and Elena wasn’t one for vengeance.</p><p> </p><p>But it was more than just that. There had been four dead vampires just this month, and Elena had been terrified that Stefan, Damon or Caroline would be next. Damon, Elena could understand not saying anything, even if she didn’t like it. But Stefan not saying anything hurt. She loved him and he knew what the uncertainty was doing to her more than anyone else did, save Caroline and Bonnie.</p><p> </p><p>Jenna still didn’t know about the supernatural and Elena wanted to keep Jeremy as far away from the Originals as possible. The less they were involved, the safer they would be and Elena needed them out of harms way more then anything.</p><p> </p><p>Then there was Katherine. Elena shook her head refusing to go down that road. She had to figure out what Miakel would do, she could deal with that later.</p><p> </p><p>She pushed open the door to the Grill, and spotted Azalea in one of the booths after a quick search of the room.</p><p> </p><p>She was with Sage. Elena wasn’t surprised. She had never seen the woman without one of the Originals or the ancient vampire within earshot. Azalea looked up, apparently sensing Elena’s stare and beckoned her over.</p><p> </p><p>Elena slid into the seat across from the women.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hi.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena looked over at Sage who just regarded her silently with a raised brow. Any awkwardness died before it was born as a waiter set down two glasses of tea at their table.Azalea thanked him before turning back to Elena, eyes intent.</p><p> </p><p>“So you ran into Mikael.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena decided to ignore the sole vampire at the table.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p> </p><p>Even if she was angry with both brothers, she wouldn’t tell why Mikael was in mystic Falls. She couldn’t risk Klaus or one of the others knowing why Mikael was here.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p> </p><p>Elena snapped back to the present at the words.</p><p> </p><p>“Elena?”</p><p> </p><p>She was giving her a concerned look. Elena was well aware of how perceptive the other woman could be, so she went with a portion of the truth</p><p> </p><p>“I’m ok. I just had an argument with Stefan.”</p><p> </p><p>Understanding flashed across Azalea’s face before she nodded and thankfully turned back to the subject of Mikael.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you know about Mikael?”</p><p> </p><p>“Not much. He’s a vampire that hunts other vampires, right.”</p><p> </p><p>She saw Azalea exchange a loaded glance with Sage.</p><p> </p><p>“He’s an Original.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Specifically, he’s Finn, Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah’s father. And he hates Klaus with a passion.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena sat back. That meant Damon and Stefan had led an unkillable immortal into Mystic Falls.</p><p> </p><p>“Elena… would you mind speaking to Rebekah about this?”</p><p> </p><p>“What!?”</p><p> </p><p>She had absolutely no desire to speak to any of the Originals about anything at all. She was just about to say so when Sage spoke up for the first time.</p><p> </p><p>“If you want help against Mikael you will have to speak to one of them.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea spoke again before Elena could say anything.</p><p> </p><p>“Over the phone, Elena. Not in person.”</p><p> </p><p>Over the phone. Elena knew that the only way that there was a chance to beat Mikael was to have the help of his children, especially since he was an Original as well.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine.”</p><p> </p><p>“Alright. Then we should take this outside.”</p><p> </p><p>Azalea slid out of the booth and left the money for the drinks on the table.</p><p> </p><p>They walked a ways away from the Grill in an increasingly tense silence, until Azalea stopped and pulled out her phone. Azalea abruptly stopped dialing as Sage’s head snapped up. Elena felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was a growl to her left and Elena turned just in time to see an unfamiliar werewolf leap towards Azalea, only for Sage to get in the way. He sunk his fangs into the vampire’s arm. Sage hissed in response and plunged her hand into the werewolves chest, ripping out his heart.</p><p> </p><p>Two more ‘wolves prowled in front of the vampire, their predatory features enhanced by their anger over their packmates death. She saw Sage shove Azalea behind her, and Elena back away from the display in front of her. She froze as she bumped into a hard body.</p><p> </p><p>Elena whirled around to meet the gaze of Mikael, who tore off her ever-present vervain necklace before he commanded her to sleep.</p><p>
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</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Unleashed - Azalea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm alive!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> She was shivering. There were cuts on her bare arms - she didn’t know how she had gotten them. They were just there when she woke up. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Her only clothing was a thin, sheer shift. She had seen a man in strange clothing outside of her cell. His stare made her skin crawl. Not because he was looking at her with lust, or something of the sort.  No, it was something more intense. She almost wanted to call it fanatical. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Her family - what had happened to them? She didn’t know how much time had passed - there was no light aside from when that strange man came to observe her. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The door protested as its hinges wore forced open. She lifted an arm to cover her eyes as white light streamed into the room. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> That strange man again. Suddenly angry, she spoke insistently. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Why am I here?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> A confused expression appeared on the man’s face. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “You are unhappy?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> What the hell kind of question was that?  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Why on earth would I be happy about this.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> He gave her a piteous look. “You don't understand it. The greater purpose you serve.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> That sentence, more than anything else in this entire shitty situation, was what terrified her the most. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “...why are you doing this?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> His expression was yearning. No, it was more than that. It was...reverent. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “You will bring Her strength.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Azalea jolted into awareness. That was the second one of those...wait. Where was she?</p><p> </p><p>It was dark, too dark for a human to see. She was on her side, brushing against someone else. No, not someone. Elena.</p><p> </p><p>They had been taken by Mikael. He had compelled her after knocking out Elena. Well, he tried to compel her. She had taken a hard blow from one of the ‘were’s, so passing out hadn’t exactly been a hardship.</p><p> </p><p>What had happened to Sage? She had been bitten by a werewolf.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea started to push herself into a sitting position, when she felt a throb of pain. She peered through the darkness, and to her horror she found a deep cut on her arm. One that she didn’t remember receiving.</p><p> </p><p>She firmly shoved her rising panic into the back of her mind. One crisis at a time.</p><p> </p><p>Ok. First, take stock of the situation. Then, wake Elena up.</p><p> </p><p>She was in a sort of cave system, but that was all she knew about her location. She was Mikael’s prisoner, and judging by the clean puncture on her arm, her blood had been taken for unknown purposes.</p><p> </p><p>On the other hand, she was alive. That meant Mikael needed her. She had value in his eyes. That was good - she could use that. Mikael most likely knew that she wasn’t human, but he apparently was under the assumption that she could be compelled. She could use that too.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea carefully checked in on her connection to Elijah. Bonds weren’t that evident unless one party involved was focusing on it, or if one party was in great turmoil. Usually they only gave a general sense of if the person in question was alive or not, if they were in danger, and just gave a general feeling of not being alone. It was a good thing - feeling another’s emotions constantly would be very tiresome, no matter how much you loved them.</p><p> </p><p>She winced. He was beyond pissed, and she didn’t think that Finn was much better. That could either bode very well or very poorly. That entirely depended on the Salvatores. Yes, Azalea knew that they were responsible for Mikael -  they were the only ones who would do something so monumentally stupid.</p><p> </p><p>Neither Elijah or Finn were the type to act recklessly out of anger, but they were far more likely to resort to homicide than normal. When they figured out what Damon and Stefan had done Mystic Falls would most likely be short two vampires. Which would most likely hurt them in the long run. Unfortunately, the brothers were more useful alive than dead.</p><p> </p><p>Well, that was the Salvatore's problem, not hers.</p><p> </p><p>Elijah obviously felt her poking at their connection because he sent a veritable flood a rage-tined worry through it. Knowing that she could do nothing to truly soothe him, not as things were, she tried to suppress the panic and fear still screaming in the back of her mind, and focused on a general feeling of calm. She would not make things worse for him - it was already bad enough.</p><p> </p><p>Elena shifted beside her, and began to sit up with a groan. Azalea felt her breathing picking up in panic, and reached out to touch her hand. Elena recoiled in fear.</p><p> </p><p>“Elena, it's ok. It's just me.<br/><br/></p><p>“...Azalea?” Elena’s voice broke on her name. Spirits, it was times like this that she remembered how <em> young </em> Elena was. She really didn’t deserve to be dragged into all of this. Azalea was woman enough to admit to herself that part of the reason she went out of her way to help Elena was out of guilt for her part in introducing strife into her life.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. It's me. We’re in a cave system.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena grasped onto her hand.</p><p> </p><p>“You can see?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes.”</p><p> </p><p>“What happened?”</p><p> </p><p>“Mikael captured us. He needs us though. Or we wouldn’t be alive.”</p><p> </p><p>Other Side take her, she was terrible at reassuring people. </p><p> </p><p>“Ouch!” Elena’s exclamation bounced off the cave walls.</p><p> </p><p>“Elena?”</p><p> </p><p>“There’s a cut on my arm.”</p><p> </p><p>Alarmed, Azalea turned towards her companion. “Was it from the werewolves?”</p><p> </p><p>“No. I must have got it while we were out.”</p><p> </p><p>That was very bad. Memini blood was rare, and therefore powerful in the right circumstances, but Doppelganger blood was in a class of its own.</p><p> </p><p>Wait a moment - Doppelganger blood.</p><p> </p><p>“I think I know a way to get help. But I don’t think you’ll like it.”</p><p> </p><p>At this, Elena looked at her - or tried at least. She was off by a good six inches.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t think there’s anything I’d like less than this.”</p><p> </p><p>She had a good point.</p><p> </p><p>“I need to drink your blood.”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re not a vampire.”</p><p> </p><p>Well, that wasn’t a no.</p><p> </p><p>“I have the ability to cast my spirit from my body…” She hesitated for a moment, gauging how much to tell Elena. “... but I...injured myself a while back, and I haven’t regained the power for it yet. I think that if I drink your blood, I’ll be back to how I was before my injury.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena fell silent at her words. Azalea was content to let her think - she was asking a lot of her.</p><p> </p><p>What could Mikael be using their blood for? Azalea cast her mind back what Kol had taught her about blood magic. There wasn’t much use her blood would have, only for things related to spirits, and possibly healing. Elena’s blood, among other things, could amplify the magic inherent in her own, and it had a special connection to the vampire race as a whole.</p><p> </p><p>“Do it.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Do it.”</p><p> </p><p>Right. Azalea didn’t do Elena the disservice of asking again.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to take from your lower arm, alright?”</p><p> </p><p>“Alright.” Elena held out her left arm, and Azalea gently grasped it.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t have fangs like a vampire, so it's going to hurt a bit more.”</p><p> </p><p>With that, Azalea bit down, wincing internally at Elena’s hiss of pain.</p><p> </p><p>The taste of Doppelganger blood was...indescribable. At her core, Azalea was a creature that fed on magic. Her natural prey was witches, though she generally sustained herself on a mixture of that and vampire blood. But the power in Elena’s blood...it was the richest thing she had ever consumed. Her body was practically buzzing with energy for the first time in months.</p><p> </p><p>She firmly denied the urge to take until she was satisfied and detached her teeth from Elena’s arm after feeling her energy return to her. She covered her teeth marks with her hand, and let the healing power she hadn’t used since before Klaus’s curse had been broken well up within her.</p><p> </p><p>A glimmer of blue light flowed into Elena’s arm, closing the teeth marks.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, Elena.”</p><p> </p><p>The teenager nodded at her, cradling her arm close to her body. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to figure out where we are, and I’ll see if I can get help. If something happens, shake me or something.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>With that, Azalea cast her spirit out of her body.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>How that she had made her way out of them, she recognized the caves they were captive in. It was the system that they used to hide from the werewolves all those centuries ago. She noticed werewolves roaming the woods as she made her way to Mystic Falls proper, being sure to stay invisible as she went.</p><p> </p><p>She followed her bond to Elijah, which led her to Elena’s house.</p><p> </p><p>How had they gotten an invitation? Why were they even at Elena’s house?</p><p> </p><p>She phased through the front door, and saw more people than she expected.</p><p> </p><p>A blond haired woman and a dark haired teenager, Damon, Stefan, Caroline, and Bonnie were all on one side of the room, with her family on the other. Kol was smiling, Klaus looked bored, Rebekah looked about ready to tear someone’s spine out, Finn was hovering by Sage - she was healed, thanks the Spirits - both looking visibly annoyed, and Elijah was looking very blank.</p><p> </p><p>In other words, they were all about ready to start ripping hearts out.</p><p> </p><p>And then Azalea actually started listening to what was being said from Elena’s side of the room.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> Maybe </em>if you had left Elena alone, Mikael wouldn’t have taken them.”</p><p> </p><p>She decided to interfere before someone got killed.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Unleashed - Finn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The plot advances.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I do not like this chapter, but it had to be written.<br/>EDIT: Grammar and other things. I was very tired when I posted this</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The blare of Azalea's ring tone drew Rebecca away from the grimoire she was reading. She flipped open her phone, only to hear her father's voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I need you to come with me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rebecca froze. She heard Azalea's voice ring out next.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd rather not if it's all the same to you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was the tell-tale sound of displaced air that signified supernatural speed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sleep until I wake you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard the crack of Azalea's phone hitting the ground, and then the sound of her body going limp into someone's arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Bring them to the caves. Stay out of sight."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then there was nothing besides the background noise of everyday life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard a gust of displaced air and looked up to see her eldest brothers in front of her, identical expressions of fear and fury on their faces. Finn's face was tight with pain, but he looked unhurt. That meant something had happened to Sage. Sage, who had gone with Azalea to meet up with Elena.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What happened."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She met Elijah's eyes before replying to him. "Mikael took Azalea." She glanced over at Finn before continuing, "I don't know what happened to Sage." Or Elena, but Rebekah didn't care about the doppelganger and she doubted that her brothers did either. At that, Finn vanished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes lingered after her brother before she turned back to Elijah, who was visibly locking down his feelings. They all knew that Mikael was stronger than they were at the best of times, but now he had the advantage of a hostage and whatever allies he may have gained. They couldn't afford to be blinded by their emotions if they wanted to get through this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They also needed allies. And the only allies they could get quickly were Elena's friends. At the very least, the Bennett would be useful. By the look on Elijah's face, he was thinking the same thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I will go speak with Elena's friends."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Given that Finn was going to be occupied until Sage was healed, Elijah was the best one to form alliances. Rebekah was self-aware enough to know that she didn't have the best temperament for it, and the less said about Klaus and Kol the better.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She decided to ignore the fact that Elijah was a hair's breadth away from violence at the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Speaking of violence, there was also the matter of who had let Mikael out, and the list of suspects was quite small. Mikael was a greater scrounge on the supernatural world than her family could hope to be. The effects of his single-minded pursuit of Klaus was comparable to a natural disaster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only the stupid or desperate deliberately drew his attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rebekah knew that certain inhabitants of Mystic Falls were both. Her voice made Elijah pause before he left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know that they were the ones that let him out."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was gone in the breath that followed his statement</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn hadn't felt this kind of fear in years. He recognized this pain - even if it was a pale echo of what Sage was feeling, there was no mistaking the feeling of werewolf venom coursing through her veins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He followed his pulsing bond to his wife and appeared behind the Mystic Grill. She was sitting against the wall of the building, face tight with pain. She had her hand tightly clasped around her right arm, blood seeping between her fingers. There were three werewolves on the ground in front of her, their hearts torn neatly from their chests.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn took a moment to thank whoever was listening that no one had come across the scene yet. Uncaring of his clothes, he kneeled beside her and gently shook her shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Finn…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shushed her gently before biting into his wrist and offering her his blood. He could not stop the poison - only Klaus could do that - but he could slow the infection and offer her some slight relief. She latched on gratefully, taking deep mouthfuls of his life force.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Rebekah is fetching Klaus. Don't worry about Mikael, we already know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded, obviously exhausted. Now that he was looking closer, he could see that she had three bites, layered on top of the other. That explained why she was so unresponsive - a vampire of Sage's age could withstand the infection longer than a younger one. In fact, if she was any younger, she would most likely be dead by now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn took a moment to force down his anger. He could worry about killing the pack that did this after Sage was healed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gently lifted her into his arms and held her close as he sped back to the mansion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Klaus had thankfully been at the front steps of the mansion when he had arrived with Sage in tow. She was still weak, but she insisted on going with them. Finn knew that she was angry with herself for failing to protect Azalea from Mikael. To her, it didn't matter that Mikael was more powerful than she - the perceived failure still burned, and he knew that she wasn't going to sit back and not involve herself in things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which led to this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'This' was a disaster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Admittedly, Rebekah and Kol had added fuel to an already volatile situation by compelling their way into Elena's home, and he hadn't helped by appearing mid-conversation with his youngest brothers and wife in tow, but the blame wasn't solely on his family's shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had started with that Bennet witch telling the blonde woman - Jenna, he thought her name was - about the supernatural and then everything devolved from there. Jenna had immediately faced the brunette teen - Jeremy, was it? There were so many of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're saying that you've been running around town with </span>
  <em>
    <span>vampires</span>
  </em>
  <span> and witches, putting your lives in danger </span>
  <em>
    <span>without</span>
  </em>
  <span> telling me?" As the teen cringed into the furniture, Jenna whirled on the rest of them and continued. "And now Elena's been kidnapped by some psychotic ancient Original vampire with a grudge against </span>
  <em>
    <span>all of you</span>
  </em>
  <span>. "</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At this point Klaus, Kol, Rebekah, and Sage were just enjoying the show. There wasn't much use in strategizing before all of them were here, after all. Elijah and the Salvatores were still missing, though his brother had obviously spoken to the rest of Elena's friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The baby vampire that Finn was pretty sure Klaus was attracted to spoke up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jenna, they're the only ones who can get Elena back. None of us like it, but we need them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Obviously unconvinced, the woman gave a hard glare over to his siblings and himself - he was almost impressed, that was quite the glare she had - before rebutting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And why would they help? From what you told me, they're the reason why Elena disappeared in March."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We have a stake in this too."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jenna quieted at Sage's words, and shot them a look that told her to go on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mikael took our sister along with Elena, and he's been our enemy for centuries. We want him dead just as much, if not more than you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was a bit of an understatement, but it was the truth. Jenna opened her mouth to respond before a knock at the door cut her off. Kol sat up in his seat with a grin, obviously anticipating the oncoming chaos.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's Elijah."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door opened, admitting his brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elijah was looking grimly satisfied as he entered the house. The Salvatores followed moving slowly, and they took the part of the room that was furthest from his brother. It seemed that the two were rather shaken under the bravado.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elijah must have had a </span>
  <em>
    <span>conversation</span>
  </em>
  <span> with the two of them which explained why it had taken so long for the three of them to show up. His brother spoke without aplomb.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Damon and Stefan were the ones to release Mikael."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn, like the rest of his family, already suspected that much, but that didn't do much to prevent the bolt of rage that went through his system at the words. He generally tried to be a peaceful vampire, but the actions of those two had nearly killed his wife and gotten his sister kidnapped by his father. He was beginning to think that the duo would be better dead than alive. A glance as his siblings told him that they were thinking the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elena's friends, however, had clearly not known that bit of information.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What." Their voices sounded out in five part harmony.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What the hell would make you do something so stupid."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The younger one responded to the Witch's question. "We needed to protect Elena. Klaus has to die, Bonnie"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, that was rude. Not that he was feeling much more charitable towards them - though it looked like Klaus was getting a laugh out of the thought of a couple of young vampires trying to kill him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're not protecting Elena. You're trying to get revenge."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They killed her."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They left. Elena specifically told us not to do anything. You might not like it, but you should have respected that. We would be in this situation if you listened to her."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At that, the older one decided to contribute.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We wouldn't be in this situation if they hadn't killed Elena."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In response, Klaus spoke up for the first time. Finn was wondering when that would happen - he had been uncharacteristically silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Releasing Mikael was entirely your choice. Mikael taking them is on your head."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>" Maybe if you had left Elena alone, Mikael wouldn't have taken them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Insinuating that Klaus - that all of them - were at fault for the near-death of his wife and the kidnapping of his sister?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If that wasn't the stupidest thing to say, Finn would go on the animal diet. He saw Rebekah place a hand on Elijah's arm before the tension was cut by a familiar echoing voice</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Please don't kill them right now - we need them alive."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Relief and surprise pervaded Finn at the sight of his almost-sister. She was drifting near Elijah, as was her custom when she was in the form of a Spirit. He saw some of the tension his brother was holding flee at her appearance, though he didn't seem any less angry with the entire situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azalea obviously read the mood, or she had been eavesdropping, because she continued without prompting. Well, that and she certainly wanted to be unkidnapped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I drank Elena's blood. We're in the full moon caves. Someone took some of Elena and I's blood, and I don't know if Elena's been compelled or not."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn saw that another argument was about to start at her words, so he decided to kill it before it was born.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There is a way to kill an Original."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He saw his siblings tense slightly at his words, but relax as he continued. "The wood from a birch tree grown in the area we were turned is the only way. Fortunately, we all died here in Mystic Falls. If we fashion stakes, we can kill Mikael."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had no intention of revealing their weakness to hostiles, even if there was no way for them to get to the White Oak. Besides if they managed to get lucky and kill Mikael, he or one of his siblings could easily finish him off during his temporary death.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Great!" Azalea somehow managed to clap her hands, before continuing brightly. "How about me and Elijah get to doing that while you all plan. Bye!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that she disappeared out the door, not waiting for any responses. Elijah cast one more look over the room, lingering on the Salvatores, before following her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Honestly, it was most likely for the best that they were gone. Elijah was steadily going from bad to worse, for all that he was remaining silent, and Finn knew that the Mystic Falls crew - the Salvatores, in particular, because that's who his brother was especially furious with - dying would cause more problems than solutions at the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, things would change once Mikael was dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was looking forward to it.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If any of you want to see that 'conversation' Elijah had with the Salvatores, I don't mind posting it with the next chapter</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Unleashed - Conversations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Stakes are fashioned and conversations are had.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I live! I’m sorry for that month long gap. I can’t promise a solid update schedule - RL has become insane for me.</p><p>Anyway, that conversation that Elijah had with the Salvatores is up under ‘Extras’ if any of y’all are interested in how that went. BTW, if there are any more extra scenes that y’all want for this fic, I don’t mind posting them. I’ve got plenty of extra tidbits that didn’t make it into this.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The moment they were out of earshot, Elijah stopped walking.</p><p> </p><p>“They can’t hear us.”</p><p> </p><p>At that, Azalea’s cheerful facade crumbled into a visage of panicked fear. Anger forgotten, he reached out to comfort her. He knew she had barely been holding it together ever since she woke up - trying to be strong for Elena’s sake no doubt. But he doubted that being held captive in a dark place would bring back good memories for her. Considering what had happened last time she had been held captive, he wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t handling it as well as she acted like she was.</p><p> </p><p>His hand phased through her’s, as he knew it would. They were both still accustomed to the pale imitation of touch.</p><p> </p><p>She leaned into the contact as best she could, and took in deep, unneeded breaths. She drew away after a moment and spoke. </p><p> </p><p>“I’ll be fine. I can handle it.”</p><p> </p><p>He brushed his other hand across her insubstantial cheek, the familiar tingle of her spirit form’s energy dancing across his fingertips as he did.</p><p> </p><p>“I know you can. That’s not what I’m worried about.”</p><p> </p><p>He’d much rather her not be in a situation where she <em> had </em> to deal with it.</p><p> </p><p>Her eyes darted to wrists - specifically, the bloodstained cuff of his shirt.</p><p> </p><p>“What’d you do to them?”</p><p> </p><p>Recognizing her desire to change the subject, he considered her question. As much as he hated it, there wasn’t much he could do about her present situation. He knew his father - he had no doubt that the man had recruited witches to ward her and Elena’s prison. They would have to rely on the Bennet witch before anything could be done.</p><p> </p><p>“I had a conversation with them about the error of their ways.”</p><p> </p><p>“So… one of them did something that ticked you off, and you beat the hell out of them.” </p><p> </p><p>That was another way of putting it, yes. </p><p> </p><p>They continued deeper into the forest in silence, taking comfort in each other’s presence. He could feel her more deeply when she was in this form - the only time that their bond was more intimate was when they shared blood. In any case, he made a concentrated effort to put a lid on his anger.</p><p> </p><p>As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he was much like Mikael in regards to his temper. Like his father, he had a tendency to channel fear and anxiety into anger. Azalea, on the other hand, withdrew into herself. Anger was the last thing she needed from him.</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, her presence made calming himself easier than it would be otherwise. Even if the circumstances were less than ideal.</p><p> </p><p>They came to a stop in a familiar clearing. It had changed over the centuries, but he could always tell when he was in the vicinity of the White Oak. The Oak made him feel almost human again - it made him very aware of his remaining mortality.</p><p> </p><p>Azalea let out an unneeded exhale. “Here it is.”</p><p> </p><p>Her wavering tone, along with the spike of fear in their connection made him reach for her through their bond in wordless support. It was the first time she had been here since her banishment. She steeled herself before drifting over to where the Oak Tree used to stand, and she grasped something, presumably a branch, that he could not see. The familiar tinge of her power sparked in the air as she pulled, and a pale branch appeared in the air that she was grasping. She pulled, straining against the innate resonance of the Oak, and the branch snapped off the tree, into the material realm.</p><p> </p><p>She slumped to the ground, branch in hand and Elijah quickly made his way towards her. He didn’t want to risk getting too close when she was getting the branch because neither of them knew what kind of impact an Original would have on the magic on the tree, and they didn’t want to find out.</p><p> </p><p>He took the branch from her grasp, ignoring the hair raising on his arm as his skin touched the wood. He brushed his hand through hers, and focused on sharing as much of his energy with her as he could. Unfortunately, their bond could only do so much, and they were both creatures that operated off of blood first and foremost. There was only so much he could do when she was in this form.</p><p> </p><p>“Rest. I’ll finish this quickly.”</p><p> </p><p>He used his vampiric speed to fashion the decoy stakes from the birch in the rounding area for their temporary allies, very aware of the toll it was taking on Azalea to remain out of her body. They still needed to go back and make a plan, and he did not want her to strain herself. She had already been injured enough - he would not let it happen again if he could prevent it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Elena was sitting in silence by Azalea’s unconscious form, cradling her formerly injured arm to her aching chest. It had been hurting ever since she had left Stefan.</p><p> </p><p>Stefan. That was right. She had essentially broken up with him. All that was left was to talk to him one more time and make it official. The thought made her wince as he pain throb with renewed strength. She was spared from thinking about what had happened by the sound of echoing footsteps. She sat up straighter and was promptly blinded by a magical light.</p><p> </p><p>She reflexively covered her eyes as they struggled to adjust to the blazing glow. She cracked open her eyes to see a woman standing in front of her. The light was streaming from her hand.</p><p> </p><p>Not just a woman. A witch. She was dressed well, but she looked frail. She was unhealthily skinny and pale, and her eyes were sunken into her face. But she was radiating power despite her haggard appearance. Elena could feel it in her bones. She almost swayed towards the woman - her power was magnetizing. </p><p> </p><p>Was this a doppelgänger thing or something? She had never been able to sense magic before…</p><p> </p><p>“I thought it was time we talked.”</p><p> </p><p>The woman’s voice drew Elena from her thoughts. The witch had a familiar accent. It took a moment for her to place it, but it sounded like the one that occasionally showed up in Azalea’s voice.</p><p> </p><p>Elena didn’t respond verbally. She just lifted her chin and met the witches eyes in an unwavering stare. She was terrified, but like hell would she show it.</p><p> </p><p>The witch seemed to find her defiance amusing, because she merely smiled condescendingly at her before speaking again.</p><p> </p><p>“I see you’re not in the mood for conversion.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> And I see that you’re in the mood for stating the obvious </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Ugh. Damon was rubbing off on her.</p><p> </p><p>“Just leave your companion over there here, and don’t get in Mikael’s way.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena didn’t even have to think before responding.</p><p> </p><p>“No.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh?” He witch raised an eyebrow, and her stupid condescending expression didn’t even falter. “So quick to object?”</p><p> </p><p>“If you think that I would betray one of my friends-”</p><p> </p><p>“Did she tell you that Klaus needs your blood to create more hybrids?” The witch flicked her eyes over to Azalea’s still-unconscious form. “Perhaps she’s not as  deserving of your loyalty as you think.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> What? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Klaus needed her blood? Again?</p><p> </p><p> Did Azalea know?</p><p> </p><p>...Was that why she had befriended her?</p><p> </p><p>Elena shook off her doubts. She might not be as sure as she was before, but she still trusted Azalea more than she trusted any of Mikael’s goons. </p><p> </p><p>“You’ll have to try harder than that. The answer is still no.”</p><p> </p><p>The witch merely smiled in the face of Elena’s defiance. “Just think about it Elena. I’ll be back.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena scarcely moved as the witch left the caver, once again leaving her in darkness. She almost banged her head against the wall when Azalea's hushed voice bounced against the stone walls.</p><p> </p><p>“She sounds like a piece of work.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena shifted into a more comfortable position as a glimmering blue light relit the cave, throwing Azalea's face into sharp relief. What <em> was </em> Azalea? The other woman had never told her.</p><p> </p><p>Then again, Elena had never asked.</p><p> </p><p>“When did you get back?”</p><p> </p><p>“When she started to leave.”</p><p> </p><p>Despite herself, Elena was relieved that Azalea hadn’t heard the whole conversation. She wanted to trust her, but the witches words <em> had </em> shaken her somewhat. She had figured that Azalea generally avoided lying, but Klaus was her brother. She knew how much Azalea loved her family and what she would do for them. Elena knew how much she herself would do for her own family. Lying was the tip of the iceberg.</p><p> </p><p>There was no reason to distrust her, but Elena would be wary. Trust but verify.</p><p> </p><p>Elena…” Azalea trailed off for a moment before continuing hesitantly. “For free to tell me to screw off if I’m being presumptuous, but did you break up with Stefan earlier?”</p><p> </p><p>It was annoying how good Azalea was at reading people.</p><p> </p><p>“Not yet.”</p><p> </p><p>“...but you will?”</p><p> </p><p>Elena absolutely did not want to talk about this. “Do we have to talk about this right now?”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re digging your nails into your chest Elena. I think we do.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena looked down to see that she was, in fact digging her nails into the area over her heart that was still throbbing with pain. She hurriedly moved her hands into her lap.</p><p> </p><p>“Would I be right I said that you’ve been in pain ever since you had that argument with Stefan? You felt like something within you broke when you left him?”</p><p> </p><p>That was exactly what she felt like. “How do you know that?”</p><p> </p><p>“Do you know anything about soulmates?”</p><p> </p><p>“Soulmates?” Elena liked to believe in the notion, but recent events had started to change her mind. “It’s real?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. But not in the way people think. There is no such thing as predestined mates, but there are compatible souls that you can choose to tether yourself to for eternity.”</p><p> </p><p>Oh. In a way, that was more romantic than a destined soulmate. Elena liked the notion of having a choice.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you and Elijah?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah.” Her voice noticeably warmed at the word, and Elena could hear the smile that was on her lips. She pushed aside the pang of envy that rose in her chest. She wanted that. She thought that she had that, but she didn’t.  Now that she was thinking about it, she didn’t think that she had ever had it.</p><p> </p><p>“You and Stefan could have become soulmates but…” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she delicately continued, choosing her words carefully. “What you two had wasn’t fully realized because you have to accept every aspect of your mate for who they are, not who you wish they are.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena knew that Stefan saw Katherine in her, but she still didn’t like hearing confirmation on the subject. Then again, she truly loved Stefan for him? Or was she drawn to him partially because of her need for comfort after her parents died? Thankfully, Azalea seemed to recognize her discomfort because she abandoned the subject for a different topic.</p><p> </p><p>“I can make it hurt a bit less.”</p><p> </p><p>“You can?”</p><p> </p><p>“I just need to touch your sternum.”</p><p> </p><p>“Please do it.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena didn’t want to feel this more than she had to. She could deal with it after she wasn’t the prisoner of a psychotic vampire.</p><p> </p><p>She felt Azalea brush her fingers right below her collarbones, and the blue light shined with a greater intensity as the ache in her chest eased. It wasn’t gone completely, but it was more bearable.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Your welcome.”</p><p> </p><p>Desperate to lift the heavy atmosphere that had fallen as the silence between the two of them grew, Elena scrambled for a different topic.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened when you left? Do we have a plan?”</p><p> </p><p>“There is a plan to esacpe, but I can’t tell you what it is.”</p><p> </p><p>Her earlier doubts rose again at Azalea’s words. “Why can’t you tell me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Because you can be compelled, and we can’t risk Mikael finding out.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena relaxed slightly, feeling slightly foolish. Azalea was right. It was dangerous for her to know more than had to if she didn’t have vervain.</p><p> </p><p>A yawn rose, unbidden, and she began to realize how tired she was. When was the last time she had slept? Elena didn't think that compelled unconsciousness counted.</p><p> </p><p>“You should get some rest.l</p><p> </p><p>Elena shook her head, determinedly pushing back her exhaustion. “What if something happens? I need to be awake.”</p><p> </p><p>What is that witch came back? She knew that Mikael needed them for whatever reason, but she didn't know the witches agenda.</p><p> </p><p>“Is this because of that witch?”</p><p> </p><p>It was funny how Azalea could say witch but actually communicate bitch all while maintaining her usual placid tone. </p><p> </p><p>“I’ll be the first to admit that I’m useless against vampires, but a witch isn’t a problem for me. I can handle her if she comes back.”</p><p> </p><p>Elena heard Azalea moving around, and startled when a warm bundle of heavy fabric landed on top of her.</p><p> </p><p>“Sleep, Elena. You need it. I’ll wake you if something happens.”</p><p> </p><p>After a moment, Elena wrapped herself in Azalea's coat and made an attempt to sleep, comforted by the other woman’s words despite her doubts.</p>
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